











LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


Chap..Copyright No,... 

& A 4 5 

Shelf._.... 

_ 


UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 


























. 




. 












/ Ah 
































































































. 





































OUR TOUR 






AROUND THE WORLD 


CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION IN BRIEF LETTERS 


OF 


A Tour around the World, through America, Hawaiian Islands, 
New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, 
Palestine, Italy, France and England, including 
ten years’ residence in New Zealand 
and Australia. 


/ 

By J. F. FLOYD 


Author of " What Must I Do to be Saved?' “Modern Dancing 
' Among Church Membersetc. 


CHICAo^ 



CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
56 Fifth Avenue 
1896 








Copyright 1896, by 
J. F. Floyd 





TO 

MY BELOVED WIFE 

MY COMPANION IN ALL MY JOURNEYING 
AND FAITHFUL HELPER IN EVERY GOOD WORK 
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED 


i 










J 





PREFACE. 


Having recently completed a delightful and in¬ 
structive tjur around the world, a number of friends, 
both in this country and in the Southern Hemisphere, 
have earnestly requested me to write out my impres¬ 
sions of the leading features of the trip and to put 
them into book form. After due consideration I have 
decided to comply with the request. These impres¬ 
sions first took the form of a series of brief letters 
which appeared in the Christian Standard of Cin¬ 
cinnati, Ohio, and the Christian Guide of Louisville, 
Kentucky. This series covered more than half the 
tour,closing with our return from the Jordan to Jeru¬ 
salem. The series has been completed, revised and 
given to the public in its present form. I can not 
hope that these hastily written letters, mainly pro¬ 
duced amidst the busy scenes of ocean voyages and 
land excursions, will prove so interesting to my 
readers as the tour itself did to myself and wife. 
Nevertheless, if I can only succeed in imparting a 
reasonable measure of useful knowledge,and in stim¬ 
ulating a desire on the part of those who follow these 
pages to obtain wider ideas of the world with a view 
to becoming more proficient in the performance of 
their obligations to God and to man, I will be satis¬ 
fied. 

5 


** 


6 


PREFACE 


The book makes no pretension to be a history of 
the countries visited or an adequate description of 
the things seen. It is simply a book of travel, in 
which I try to take my readers into my confidence, 
and, in imagination, to enable them to travel with 
me and to see things as I saw them. It is emphatic¬ 
ally a book for the people, and hence I have put it 
into as few words as possible to furnish an intelligent 
account of the long journey, so that the price of the 
book may be within the reach of all. 

As I made my home for about ten years in New 
Zealand and Australia, I have the advantage of being 
able to speak of these countries with some degree of 
authority 

The plural pronoun “we” is not used in an edi¬ 
torial sense, but to denote the party, consisting of 
three “globe-trotters,” namely, Mr. and Mrs. Trotter 
and the little trotter, the little trotter starting trot¬ 
ting when an infant and being near twelve years old 
when he finished the circular trot. 

With all its imperfections I hand over the book to 
the public for what it is worth, and trust that each 
reader of its pages will judge it with merciful judg¬ 
ment and be profited by those features of it which 
may prove able to stand the test. 

J. F. Floyd 

Chicago , March , 1896 . 




CONTENTS 


LETTER 

I. 

II. 


III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 


PAGE 

Making the Start. 9 

From the Golden Gate to the Paradise 

of the Pacific. 14 

Crossing the Pacific Ocean. 21 

Our First Impressions of New Zealand... 28 

General Description of New Zealand. 34 

The People of New Zealand. 41 

The Natives of New Zealand. 48 

In Aust. lift.. 56 

A Short Sketch of Australia. G7 

Our Return to New Zealand. 72 

Leaving New Zealand. 78 

From Dunedin to Melbourne. 83 

From Melbourne to Adelaide. 88 

On the Indian Ocean . 91 

In Colombo, Ceylon. 96 

On the Red Sea. 102 

Israel’s Passage Through the Red Sea_ 106 

From Ismailia to Cairo. Ill 

Off to the Pyramids. 115 

Among the Royal Mummies. 121 

Among the Mosques and Bazaars. 125 

From Egypt to Palestine. 131 

Landing at Joppa. 136 

In Joppa. 140 

Going Up to Jerusalem. 145 

In Jerusalem.— 153 


























8 


CONTENTS 


LETTER PAGE 

XXVII. Inside the Walls. 158 

XXVIII. A Visit to the Traditional Calvary. 104 

XXIX. A Visit to the True Calvary. 172 

XXX. Down to Jericho. 178 

XXXI. A Visit to the Dead Sea. 184 

XXXII. A Visit to the Jordan. 190 

XXXIII. A Visit to Bethlehem. 197 

XXXIV. In the Church of the Nativity. 202 

XXXV. Walks About Jerusalem. 208 

XXXVI. From Jerusalem to Naples. 216 

XXXVII. Seeing Naples. 222 

XXXVIII. A Walk Through Pompeii. 228 

XXXIX. Climbing Mount Vesuvius. 232 

XL. So We Went Toward Rome.240 

XLI. From Rome to Paris. 250 

XLII. From Paris to London. 255 

XLIII. From London Home. 261 

XLIV. Conclusion. ... .. 265 






















OUR TOUR 


AROUND THE WORLD. 

LETTER I. 

MAKING THE START. 

The start was made from Lexington, Kentucky. 
Kentucky was my native state. It was the home of 
my wife’s parents. On June 10, 1876, I had gradu¬ 
ated in the College of the Bible, Kentucky University, 
and the pleasant memories of my closing school-days 
were still fresh in my mind. Lexington, therefore, 
seems to be the appropriate starting-point for such 
a tour. It was on October 24, 1882, that we bade 
farewell to our friends, took our seats in the train 
at the Lexington depot and started westward on our 
long journey, with only a vague idea of how and when 
the journey would be finished. But Providence fa¬ 
vored us, and as we traveled from point to point 
during weeks,months and years our idea gradually 
took more definite shape, until finally our long cher¬ 
ished hope was fully realized in making the complete 
circuit of the globe. 

I need only briefly describe our rapid ride across 


10 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


the greater portion of the American continent. A 
journey through the United States is now an every¬ 
day occurrence, and many people have become famil¬ 
iar with the scenes along the various railway lines 
leading from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. 

We took the southern route to San Francisco, 
passing through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and South¬ 
ern California, We admired the fertile plains of 
Kansas and other states, and were delighted with the 
scenery as we went zigzagging over the southern spurs 
of the Rocky Mountains. We took special notice of 
the odd looking towns of New Mexico. We saw tons 
of red peppeT. They prepared it for drying in the 
sun by spreading it on top of the flat-roofed mud 
houses of the Mexicans, or stringing the pods on 
poles and strings. Verily the Mexicans are fond of 
hot food. In Arizona we were interested in the half 
savage Indians and their wigwams. These fierce look¬ 
ing red men were clothed in primitive style. They 
had adopted mother Eve’s costume,except that a piece 
of cotton cloth the size of a pocket handkerchief,ad¬ 
justed about their loins, had taken the place of the 
fig leaf. Sometimes this simple costume is supple¬ 
mented withatrailing strip of red material dangling 
from the rear belt,like the tail of a monkey. These 
people will not, however, supply the Darwinian 
“missing link.” 

Yuma City, situated on the eastern bank of the 
Colorado River, which divides Arizona from California, 
is a peculiar town. The people are mostly Indians 


MAKING THE START 


11 


and Mexicans, and their houses are built of sod or 
adobe. The houses are one story high, flat-roofed 
and covered with layers of poles. Over the poles are 
spread cloth or raw-hide, and this is covered by a 
layer each of willows and dirt. On all sides of these 
houses are verandas, projecting from ten to twenty 
feet, also built of poles, the whole being surrounded 
with fences made of poles set in the ground, close 
together, and secured by strips of raw-hide. The 
houses and fences present a very ragged appearance. 

We were equally interested in the Giant Cactus, 
also called the “Boss” cactus of the world, which is 
peculiar to these southwestern deserts. Before ap¬ 
proaching the Gila River we passed through a vast 
expanse of desert country, known as the Gila Desert, 
inhabited solely by rattlesnakes, lizards, owls and 
woodpeckers. This is the home of the “Boss” cac¬ 
tus. It is a veritable tree. It rises from the ground 
in the shape of a huge cone, and frequently reaches 
the height of sixty feet, with a diameter of three 
feet near the ground. Some of these great cacti have 
a number of smaller cones which branch out from 
the main trunk at different heights and shoot up 
parallel to it. Each cactus produces one blossom 
annually, on top; and it yields a kind of fruit much 
prized by the natives. 

On crossing the river at Yuma City, we entered 
Southern California and plunged into the Colorado 
Desert, a succession of barren sandhills as far as the 
eve could see. It was a welcome relief to emerge 
from this ocean of sand and enter the beautiful 
country about Los Angeles. 


12 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Our arrival at San Francisco was announced by the 
noise and general uproar of the cab drivers and hotel 
runners. We remained a few days in the city, and 
visited the principal objects of interest We in¬ 
quired of our hotel-keeper for China Town. He said, 
“Can’t you smell it?” We had no difficulty in find¬ 
ing it, right in the heart of the city, and then we 
realized the force of the gentleman’s significant re¬ 
mark. We visited Fort Point, and examined the 
guns that command the entrance to the Golden Gate. 
We drove along the fashionable drive of San Fran¬ 
cisco to the Cliff House,on the ocean beach six miles 
west of the city. We passed through Golden Gate 
Park, which contains 1,100 acres. Standing on the 
veranda of the Cliff House, which overhangs the 
water two hundred feet high, we looked out on the 
Seal Rocks, some five hundred yards away. These 
are three small, steep, rocky islands on which were 
several large seals, sunning and disporting them¬ 
selves, and making a noise that reminded one of the 
bray of a donkey. It is a sight which many people 
go a long distance to see. 

From San Francisco we took a coasting steamer 
to Portland, Oregon, and thence to Monmouth by 
rail. Here for two years I was editor and publisher 
of the Christian Herald, a sixteen-page weekly relig¬ 
ious paper, that had been in existence several years. 
At the expiration of this term the Herald possessed 
the largest list of subscribers during its history, had 
become an acknowledged power for good on the 
Pacific Slope and was loyally supported by the peo- 


MAKING THE START 


13 


pie. For a number of years I had also been one of 
the editors and proprietors of the Faithful Witness, 
which was first published at Fayetteville, Arkansas, 
and was afterwards removed to Topeka, Kansas, 
where it was successfully continued after I disposed 
of my interest in it. 

It was while laboring in Oregon that the way was 
opened for us to continue our journey. We received 
an urgent and hearty call to preach for a church in 
Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and imme¬ 
diately we made our arrangements to go hence. We 
returned to San Francisco by sea; and on Monday, 
February 16, 1885, at two o’clock, we were driven by 
friends to our steamship, the Australia , turned our 
backs on our native country, steamed through the 
Golden Gate and thus started in earnest on our long 
voyage. 


LETTER II. 


FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO THE PARADISE OF THE PA¬ 
CIFIC. 

From the Golden Gate to Honolulu is about 2,100 
miles, in a southwestern direction. Our steamship 
was seven days covering the distance. The voyage 
was a pleasant one. The overcoats and ladies’ wraps 
which we found necessary to protect us from the 
chilly, foggy weather of San Francisco were laid 
aside as we gradually entered the milder, sunshiny 
climate of the Pacific. We stood on deck gazing at 
the American continent till it faded from our view. 
Then we were sad. But when we turned our faces 
westward, the prospects of treading new lands and 
mingling with strange peoples made us glad. The 
smooth sea, the bright sky and the bracing air 
seemed to whisper, “The God of love and peace shall 
be with you,” and all sense of fear and homesickness 
was dispelled. 

At sunrise on Monday morning we saw a speck on 
the ocean. This was land on the Hawaiian Islands. 
There was a stir aboard, and all eyes were turned on 
the distant object whose outline was fast assuming 
more definite shape. Soon we saw the white break¬ 
ers tumbling over the coral reef that encloses the 
harbor. We passed in through the opening in this 
14 





FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO HONOLULU 15 


reef, and made fast to the pier at Honolulu. As we 
slowly approached the wharf a number of native 
men and boys interested us by swimming about the 
sides of our boat and diving for coins tossed into the 
sea by the passengers. They never failed to take the 
coin before it reached the bottom. These natives are 
expert swimmers, and are particularly fond of the 
water. 

The passengers had only two hours at their dis¬ 
posal. We were soon on shore to see the sights. We 
procured a carriage, and an American guide who 
could also speak the native language, and drove off 
through the city. We were delighted. Everything 
seemed so strange and inviting. Were we suddenly 
transported to fairyland? No; but we were in the 
midst of a city of some twenty thousand inhabitants 
whose streets were everywhere densely shaded with 
beautiful tropical and semi-tropical trees, and the 
homes of whose people were embowered in flowers 
of great variety, whose fragrance floated to us on the 
air. There were the tall cocoanut palms with their 
graceful fronds; date palms, royal palms, banana 
trees, breadfruit trees, India rubber trees, umbrella 
trees, and other trees too numerous to mention; 
and from many of these trees were hanging clusters 
of ripe nuts and golden fruit. 

The streets, laid out in the American style, are 
straight and neat. The city is situated at the mouth 
of a beautiful valley, close to the sea, and has for 
its background extinct craters, tall cliffs and moun¬ 
tain peaks, the last named being three thousand feet 


16 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


high. We saw the Government houses, the King’s 
palace, the Queen’s palace, the college buildings, the 
music hall, the ice works, the Catholic cemetery, St. 
Thomas’ park, Queen Emma’s gardens, the Queen’s 
hospital, and the principal churches. In short, we 
saw here in the limited time allotted to us all the 
things that go to make up the necessaries and even 
luxuries of civilized life. And lastly we drove to the 
Leper Hospital, in which I was most interested. 
Here were one hundred and twenty-four lepers, 
three of whom were white men, the others being na¬ 
tives. They represented all stages of the loathsome 
disease. The fingers of some and the toes of others 
were dropping off at the joints, while the faces of 
still others were much disfigured. It was a repulsive 
sight, and one never to be forgotten. We were shown 
through the hospital by Roman Catholic women who 
seemed enthusiastically devoted to their work of 
superintendence. They pointed out the lepers’ beds, 
the large dining hall and table and the basins out of 
which they ate their principal food, called poi, made 
from the native polo root. We admired the courage 
of these women. 

As we were returning to our boat our attention 
was attracted by the long, white, flowing robes of 
the native women on the streets. A number of girls 
were riding horseback, of which they are ver} T fond. 
We were surprised to see that the “new woman” had 
reached Honolulu at this early day—these girls were 
riding astride. 

Our drive amidst such beautiful surroundings was 




FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO HONOLULU IT 

very enjoyable, the climate here being almost per¬ 
fection The extremes of heat and cold do not exist. 
The average heat is about 75 degrees Fahr., tempered 
during the hottest season with refreshing breezes. 
It is a sort of mild, perpetual, sunshiny summer. 

This group of islands is officially known as the 
Hawaiian Islands,taken from the native name of the 
largest island, Hawaii. When Captain Cook visited 
them in 1778, he called them the Sandwich Islands, 
in honor of the Earl of Sandwich. They have also 
been called the “Paradise of the Pacific,” and they 
richly deserve the name. They comprise twelve sep¬ 
arate islands, eight being inhabited and four unin¬ 
habited. Their total area is estimated to be 0.400 
square miles; the largest island being one hundred 
miles long and ninety wide. They are all of volcanic 
origin. They are also mountainous; the highest 
mountain on the group being a volcanic mountain 
on Hawaii, 18,805 feet high. There is also on this 
island two active volcanoes. Mouna Loa lifts its 
head 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, and has 
a crater 8,000 feet in diameter with nearly vertical 
walls from 500 to GOO feet high on the inner side. 
At the bottom there are numerous cones; and be¬ 
tween these there is usually a solid covering of lava 
through the fissures of which issue steam and sulphu¬ 
reous vapors. On another part of the same moun¬ 
tain, sixteen miles to the southeast, is a hill 4,400 
feet above the sea on which is the largest active vol¬ 
cano in the world The crater, called Kilauea, is 
nine miles in circumference. Its vertical sides are 


18 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


1,000 feet deep, and at the bottom the vast lake of 
red, liquid lava is ever steaming, boiling and heav¬ 
ing. As described by an eye-witness, 66 its surface 
had all the agitation of an ocean. Billow after bil¬ 
low tossed its monstrous bosom into the air, and oc¬ 
casionally the waves from opposite directions met 
with such violence as to dash the fiery spra} 7 in the 
concussion forty or fifty feet high.” Such was the 
agonizing struggle of the conflicting elements, with 
appalling sounds of muttering, sighing, moaning 
and howling, that one of the party shrank back, ex¬ 
claiming, “Call it weakness, or whatever you please, 
but I cannot look again.” It is a “bottomless pit.” 
It is a vivid reminder of the Gehenna of the Bible. 
No wonder the Hawaiian mythology regards this 
crater as the abode of the dreaded goddess Pele. 

Some of the eruptions of these volcanoes have been 
indescribably brilliant and awful. At one time a 
fountain of molten lava 1,000 feet wide played to a 
height at times of 700 feet, illuminating the sur¬ 
rounding country by night 200 miles away, like the 
noonday sun. A river of fire has repeatedly flowed 
out of these craters and continued its destructive 
course a distance of sixty miles to the sea. When 
we think of all the mighty burning mountains, erup¬ 
tions and earthquakes of this world, we have before 
us not only mentally but in reality, all the scientific 
elements and possibilities necessary to bring about, 
with a direct touch of God’s hand, the end described 
by the apostle Peter when he says: “The day of the 
Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which 


FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO HONOLULU 


19 


the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and 
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth 
also and the works that are therein shall be burned 
up. ” 

The Sandwich Islands are intensely interesting 
in many respects. Honolulu, their capital, is a city 
of considerable commercial importance. The islands 
are at the cross-roads of the commercial world. 
They are destined to become the great pleasure 
ground and health resort of the American people. 
The mixed population, dominated by American in¬ 
telligence and thrift, will develop a future worthy of 
the important centre they occupy in the Northern 
Pacific. The Sandwich Islands by all means ought 
to be annexed to the United States But the Amer¬ 
ican government will probably realize this fact when 
it is too late. Our political leaders will continue to 
wrangle over partisan politics while neglecting the 
true honor and prosperity of our nation. 

And finally, here, in these islands, we have a strik¬ 
ing illustration of the gospel’s power in civilization 
and salvation. Three-quarters of a century ago 
these natives were gross idolators whose hands were 
constantly dyed with the blood of human victims. 
But in 1819 Kamehameha II. succeeded his father 
as king. The leavening influences of civilization 
which for some time had been at work led this mild, 
well-disposed prince as one of his first acts to abol¬ 
ish idolatry throughout the islands. Soon after, in 
1820, the first missionaries, sent from the United 
States,arrived, and on landing, were made to greatly 


20 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


rejoice by the good news that all the idols were 
destroyed. The story of the long strides of these 
natives into civilization reads like a romance. Their 
Christianization was a rapid process. The gospel, 
of which they were once ignorant, is now by their 
personal ministry, money and influence sent to more 
distant islands of the sea and to the ends of the 
earth. The missionaries have done their work well, 
and again infidelity is confronted with the fact that 
Christianity and civilization go hand in hand. AJ1 
honor to the brave missionaries who have proved the 
harbingers of better days. 


LETTER III. 


CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 

Our last letter left us at Honolulu. Our boat 
whistle sounds, and we must hasten on board our 
good ship. We purchase from the natives on the 
wharf a large bunch of ripe bananas, just off the 
trees, for twenty-five cents; and what delicious ba¬ 
nanas 1 We notice also that they have beautiful 
pieces of coral for sale cheap. Again the w r histle 
sounds, the bridge is hauled in and we are off for New 
Zealand. 

The distance from Honolulu to Auckland, the first 
port of call in New Zealand, is about 8,950 miles, 
making the total distance from San Francisco to 
Auckland 6,050 miles. The distance from San Fran¬ 
cisco to Sydney, Australia, is 7,200 miles It is a 
long voyage. It is a voyage over the largest and 
deepest and most wonderful ocean in the world. 
The Pacific Ocean measures 9,000 miles from north 
to south, and more than 10,000 miles in breadth on 
the equator, its widest place. Its total area is nearly 
68 millions of square miles. In some places it is more 
than five miles deep, with an average depth of about 
2,500 fathoms. A voyage over this vast expanse of 
water may be thoroughly enjoyed by most travellers. 
We enjoyed it. We were a happy family; but like 
21 


22 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


many other families, the fraternal relations were 
not perfect. There was one thing lacking Yet 
strange to say, it was this one thing that our friends 
attempted to set in order in the beginning. 

On the eve of our departure from San Francisco, a 
young lady, who gives considerable attention to the 
details of polite society, accompanied us to our ship 
and introduced us to the captain with a view of hav¬ 
ing us assigned seats at his table. On board ship 
the saloon passengers are assigned seats at the table 
which they retain to the end of the voyage. The 
captain’s table ranks highest in honor, and the first 
seat on his right is the most honorable seat. But 
there were applicants for this honor before us. The 
captain’s table was full. We got, however, what 
was considered the next best, seats near the head of 
the first mate’s table. We were disappointed. Our 
good lady friend, in her honest desire to have us well 
entertained, had placed us in a position to be bored 
for twenty-one days. We soon wished we had been 
placed anywhere else, in the steerage, if need be, to 
avoid the point of the gimlet. But there was no es¬ 
cape. This first mate proved to be a born and bred 
Englishman whose second nature it was to sneer at 
everything American. I sneered back; while Mrs. 
Trotter laughed at the gimlet thrusts and criticised 
all the ship’s English dishes from the tough fowl 
down to the Bombay duck and curry and rice. (The 
English have no chickens; the chickens are all fowis.) 
And so we passed the time at the table. The mate 
said the Americans at the table all dip their knives 



CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN 


23 


into the same salt-cellar; and he thought it so much 
more in harmony with good taste, “you know,” for 
all the company, “you know," to use the same little 
spoon, “you know,” to dip the salt out of the same 
big salt-cellar as we English do, “you know.” But 
“just fancy,” it turned out that this mate had 
never seen an American salt-cellar. When asked by 
the steward how he liked his tea, he said it was “just 
beautiful ” With him everything we had to eat and 
drink on the ship was “beautiful.” When we left 
the ship at Auckland the British lion gave a loud 
roar. The American eagle shrieked; and thus we 
parted company. 

We had another Englishman on board of the same 
blue-blood (?) type. He took pride in saying he had 
travelled clean across the American continent with¬ 
out seeing a handsome woman. A Hottentot might 
have done the same. We pitied his standard of 
taste. When we changed boats at Auckland we took 
our first meal as we were leaving the port. The 
captain was on duty. Seeing the captain’s chair at 
the head of the table empty, the Englishman took 
possession without ceremony. But the chief steward 
removed him. He became indignant. He said he 
would get permission from the captain to occupy the 
seat, and for this purpose he went on deck. Not¬ 
withstanding the sentence in large letters staring him 
in the face, “Passengers Not Allowed on the Bridge,” 
he boldly ascended the steps. The captain,out of the 
goodness of his heart,told the intruder to occupy.the 
chair till he came down. We all awaited with keen 


24 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


interest the captain’s appearance at the table; but 
fortunately his duties detained him till the meal was 
finished. At the second meal the captain was in his 
place at the head of his table. But our English 
friend was observed to quietly take the lowest seat 
at the least honorable table; and then a smile of 
extreme satisfaction played over the faces of the 
passengers. We thought of the language of the Cap¬ 
tain of our salvation to the Pharisees, “when he 
marked how they chose out the chief rooms, saying 
unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a 
wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a 
more honorable man than thou be bidden of him, 
and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, 
Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to 
take the lowest room. ” “Whosoever exalteth him¬ 
self shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself 
shall be exalted. ” We were thankful when we learned 
that all Englishmen are not alike; but that a few of 
them, like some Americans, simply make themselves 
foolish abroad. Since this voyage we are usually 
satisfied to follow the Master’s advice It is not so 
much captain and mate we want as plenty of good 
things to eat 

From day to day and week to week, after leaving 
Honolulu, we sailed on toward our destination At 
times, owing to the great ocean swells, our ship sunk 
down into a valley, surrounded by moving hills. The 
next moment it would be lifted and perched on a 
mountain, surrounded by valleys. But for the most 
part we sailed over a smooth sea, sometimes so 




CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN 


25 


smooth that we seemed to be moving on a boundless 
plate of glass; and with the exception of a downpour 
of rain two or three times in the tropics, we had a 
clear sky. We crossed the equator and thus passed 
into the Southern Hemisphere. The North Star 
faded from our sight, and the Southern Cross came 
into view The sun, which at the equator had been 
so directly over us that our bodies failed to cast a 
shadow on deck, now begins to pass north of us, 
while our shadows lengthen toward the south. 

We whiled away the time after the custom of the 
ship. The “Australia” is a large English vessel,steady 
going, beautifully furnished and affording every 
needed comfort. She carried a small complement of 
passengers. We promenaded the decks, and enjoyed 
the beautiful sunsets, bright moonlight and the gen¬ 
tle tropical breeze. We played shuffle-board on deck, 
made swings for the children, read books and sung 
songs of praise. We had on board a Friend, speak¬ 
ing his sacred language, and a boastful atheist from 
San Francisco. Occasionally a heated argument be¬ 
tween these two on the relative merits of Christianity 
and atheism proved interesting. One evening we 
had a lecture in the saloon on Russia from the dis¬ 
tinguished journalist and lecturer, the late Augustus 
Sala. He said he hated Russia; and we quite be¬ 
lieved it before he had finished. Sala was anything 
hut handsome; and when his hatred of the Russians 
was depicted on his countenance we thought the 
Russians in turn might be excused for not admiring 
the great journalist. Church of England service was 


26 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


conducted in the saloon every Sunday morning at 
10:30 by the captain, assisted by the first mate. 
The countless numbers of living creatures in the 
ocean remained beneath the surface. Only once did 
we note anything of interest among the monsters of 
the deep, and that was a whale spouting water in the 
distance. 

Later on our boat stopped for half an hour off 
Tutuila, a small island belonging to the Navigator, 
or Samoan group, to exchange mails. Twelve or 
fifteen of the brown natives, including a number of 
women, came out in their canoes to sell their strange 
wares to the passengers. The men were well formed, 
and in almost a nude state. Their style of rowing 
is peculiar. They ranged themselves in a row on 
each side of the canoe, extending its full length. 
Each one was provided with a short, broad pad¬ 
dle, and the stroke was a quick downward movement. 
The paddles all moved together, and kept time to a 
lively song while the canoe bounded forward over 
the rolling sea with great rapidity. These Samoans 
are closely akin to the Hawaiians, and Maoris of 
New Zealand. They are a splendid race of people. 
Sixty years ago they were gross heathens. To-day 
they are all Christianized, and keep the Lord’s day 
almost as strictly as the ancient Israelites observed 
their Sabbath. Had we stopped off a Samoan island 
on Sunday the natives would have been in the mis¬ 
sion churches and Sunday Schools, and no canoe 
would have come out to welcome us. The mission¬ 
aries have done a noble work on these islands. We 
also sighted land on the Society Islands, 



CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN 


27 


On March 5 we reached the 180° meridian of lon¬ 
gitude, and as we had accumulated too much time on 
our hands we found it necessary to cut out a slice. 
So we passed from Thursday right over to Saturday, 
dropping out Friday. It seemed a little strange to 
go to bed on Thursday and get up on Saturday with¬ 
out sleeping more than the usual eight hours. But 
we meet with many strange things when we get on 
the other side of the world from where we have 
been accustomed to live. 

On the twenty-first day out from San Francisco we 
sighted the rugged shores of New Zealand, and steered 
straight for the harbor at Auckland. 


LETTER IV. 


OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. 

Our arrival at Auckland,our landing port in New 
Zealand, was on Sunday at one o’clock. The day 
was warm and clear, and as we entered the commo¬ 
dious harbor we noted its beauty, a few islets here 
and there giving diversity to it. We looked up at 
the city,and saw it beginning at the very water’s edge 
and rising, terrace-like, onto the hills above, Mt. 
Eden, an extinct volcano, forming a pleasing back¬ 
ground. We were met at the wharf by friends who 
had heard of our coming, and immediately we were 
whirled away in a carriage to a hospitable home 
which we made our headquarters during our few days’ 
stay in the city. 

In the afternoon there was a heavy rain, giving us 
an idea how it can rain in Auckland. At night it 
was fine, and, by invitation, I preached in one of the 
churches. 

Thomas Spurgeon, who now occupies the pulpit of 
his father, the late Charles H. Spurgeon, in London, 
was pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle church; and 
on Monday evening we attended a tea and public 
meeting of the Baptists in a suburban chapel, and 
heard “Young Spurgeon,” as he was then called, 
speak. We were told that he was not getting on 

28 







NANNIE FLOYD 











OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND 29 


very smoothly with his church, and so he soon after¬ 
wards resigned. During the remainder of his sojourn 
in New Zealand,which was mainly up to the time of 
his call to the London Tabernacle, he was engaged 
in evangelistic work among the Baptist churches in 
the Colony. At that time Mr. Spurgeon was very 
little above the average Baptist preacher; and even 
now I am agreeably surprised at his popularity and 
success among a large class of Londoners. After 
all, there must be something in a name. 

On Wednesday evening a complimentary tea meet¬ 
ing was tendered us at our temporary home, and 
some forty ladies and gentlemen sat down to a boun¬ 
teous spread. We enjoyed it very much—all of it— 
except my own effort at speech-making Mrs. Trot¬ 
ter escaped this ordeal, as the “new woman” had 
not reached Auckland 

One day we were invited by our host to examine a 
beautiful house he owned on an adjoining lot. It 
was unoccupied. Soon after entering the house,which 
contained several spacious rooms, Mrs. Trotter found 
her way, woman-like, to the kitchen. I heard sharp 
exclamations, and then a call, “Come here, dear, 
quick.” Thinking something serious might be wrong, 
I hastened to the spot. “What is that?” she ex¬ 
claimed, as she pointed to something in what ap¬ 
peared to be a sort of open fireplace in the brick 
chimney. I looked, and looked, and then had to con¬ 
fess my ignorance. We examined it and found what 
we pronounced a small, square, sheet-iron goods box 
set into the fireplace with masonry, with an open 


80 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


space below it, the open chimney above it and a small 
front door to it. We ventured to quietly inform our 
hostess of our discovery, and asked its meaning. 
“That,” she said, “is a colonial oven, for cooking. 
You see, we put a small fire under it and another 
small fire on top of it, and put the food to be baked 
into the oven; and if you wish, hang a kettle over 
the top fire at the same time.” It was then all plain 
to us. At one time these primitive ovens were in 
extensive use in the Colonies; but they have now 
mainly given place to the modern ranges and stoves. 

While in Auckland we visited the museum, the 
parks, the small bays about the harbor, and climbed 
to the top of Mt. Eden. From the top of this moun¬ 
tain, 644 feet high, we obtained a beautiful and ex¬ 
tensive view of the city, the sea and the surrounding 
country. The extinct crater, which is probably one- 
sixth of a mile in diameter, retains the perfect basin¬ 
like form it had assumed when its fires went out ages 
ago. There are evidences that Mt. Eden was not the 
only volcano in this region. Indeed, the whole 
country about the city is dotted with volcanic cones; 
and lava is found in abundance on the sides of these 
small mountains. We also made an excursion into 
the country, and paid a pleasant visit to the house 
of an intelligent gentleman from“home,” as the Eng¬ 
lish and Scotch in these Southern Colonies usually 
call their native land. This gentleman took us into 
his garden and showed us a few stalks of maize 
which he was growing as an experiment. Very little 
Indian corn is grown in New Zealand, and many 


OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND 31 


people have a limited knowledge of its cultivation 
and use. In fact these were the only stalks we saw 
in the country. The gentleman said that he had 
heard that the maize was good to eat, but they had 
tried some of it, and none of the family seemed to 
like it. I asked him how they prepared it for the 
table. u Oh,” said he, u we simply took off the outside 
and just ate the soft grains in their natural state.” 
I said we usually cook our corn in America before 
we bring it to the table. He had not thought of that, 
but admitted that the cooking might improve it. We 
insisted on taking a few ears with us to the city, that 
we might give our friends a lesson in roasting-ear 
eating. My travelling companion, with considerable 
amusement, prepared it and brought it to the table. 
Then came the fun. The company took up the long 
ears in their fingers and nibbled and nibbled at them 
like mice listening for the appearance of the house 
cat. For the first time in life they had tasted cooked 
maize. I presume it was also the last time. 

But we did not have the pleasure of doing all the 
teaching. We had learned something from the New 
Zealanders. The first time we sat down to a meal 
with our host and hostess we noticed a large plate in 
the center of the table, and on it was a tall stack of 
thin slices of baker’s bread, one side of each slice 
being coated with butter. We wondered what sort 
of a Colonial dish that was and how we were to eat 
it. But we soon learned that this plate contained 
all the bread we would get. We ate what was set 
before us, asking no questions for conscience’ sake. 


82 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


This way of preparing the bread for the table is quite 
common among the English and Scotch. 

New Zealand is called “The Wonderland, ’’and such 
it evidently is in truth It is full of wonders, and 
the stranger is constantly wondering. He wonders 
at the natural beaut) r and grandeur he sees on every 
hand, some of which can not be surpassed, if even 
equaled, in any other part of the world. He wonders 
why it is that amidst all the jungle-like forests of 
the North Island, and the extensive plains and fern 
lands of the South Island, not a snake has ever been 
found in the whole of New Zealand, except the dead 
ones which have been imported and placed in the 
museums. He wonders what use the Lord had for 
the wingless birds, called Moas, which once walked 
about in the marshes and mountain fastnesses of the 
country with legs as large as a horse’s, and standing 
eight to eleven feet high from toe to beak,and whose 
skeletons in the museums may be examined at lei¬ 
sure. He wonders where the brown natives, called 
Maoris, came from, and how they managed to reach 
these islands of the Southern Pacific, probably cen¬ 
turies before the white man discovered or occupied 
the country. He wonders why these Maoris, when 
they meet, rub their noses together and wail as tokens 
of joy, instead of shaking hands with a smile or a 
hearty laugh as white people do. (How would it do 
for the white ladies to rub noses instead of kissing?) 
He wonders how the large flocks of sheep which are 
spread over the grassy hills of the country manage 
to nibble the grass in places from between the rocks 


OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND 83 


without having their noses sharpened. He wonders 
why the crater on Mount Tarawera, in the Hot Lake 
district of the North Island, which had not shown 
the least sign of activity within the memory of the 
native race, suddenly burst forth on the night cf 
June 10, 1886, shooting its flames hundreds of feet 
towards the heavens and literally raining its mud on 
the surrounding country for miles away till large 
trees were stripped of their branches, houses were 
covered up, and more than one hundred natives were 
buried from ten to twenty feet deep. When he looks 
on the boiling springs and pools, hot lakes, mud vol¬ 
canoes, sulphur fumaroles, huge volcanic chimneys, 
and remembers that much of the ground on which 
he walks is a sort of pie crust, he wonders that the 
snow-capped mountains, with the glaciers streaming 
down their sides, are not all blown to atoms by the 
pent-up forces beneath them. And so he may go on 
wondering to the end of the chapter, if, indeed, this 
chapter of wonders has an end. Heaven is as near 
to New Zealand as it is to any other country. The 
same is true of the fires of Gehenna. Such were our 
first impressions of New Zealand. 


LETTER V. 


GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NEW ZEALAND. 

New Zealand was first sighted by Abel Jansen 
Tasman, the Dutch navigator, in 1642; but on ac¬ 
count of the hostile attitude of the natives he sailed 
away without setting foot on the soil. But to Cap¬ 
tain Cook belongs the real discovery and exploration 
of the country in 1769. He made five visits to the 
islands, taking his final departure in 1777. 

New Zealand is situated in the Southern Pacific 
Ocean, Wellington, its capital, being 6,625 miles in 
a southwestern direction from San Francisco. It is 
about the same distance south of the equator that 
San Francisco is north of it. New Zealand comprises 
three islands, namely, the North Island, the South 
Island and Stewart Island,and the small islands near 
their coasts; also the Chatham, the Auckland, the 
Campbell, the Antipodes, Bounty and Kermodec Is¬ 
lands, lying farther off. New Zealand has an area 
of about 100,000 square miles, or 64,000,000 acres. 
Its extreme length from north to south is about 1,100 
miles, with an average breadth of about 120 miles. 
The North Island has an area of about 44,000 square 
miles, the South Island has an area of about 55,000 
square miles, and Stewart Island an area of a little 
34 




GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NEW ZEALAND 


85 


less than 1,000 square miles. The three principal 
islands, with their adjacent smaller islands, are about 
the size of the state of Colorado. Cook Strait divides 
the North and South Islands; and Foveaux Strait 
divides the South and Stewart Islands. Both straits 
are easily navigable by the largest sea-going vessels; 
Cook Strait being thirteen and Foveaux Strait being 
fifteen miles wide in their narrowest parts. 

New Zealand is very hilly and mountainous; Mount 
Cook, in the South Island, the highest peak, being 
12,849 feet high, snow-capped, and magnificent gla¬ 
ciers streaming down its sides to the level cf 700 feet 
above the sea. Mount Cook belongs to the chain of 
lofty mountain peaks running along the west coast 
throughout the entire length of the South Island, 
called the Southern Alps. The highest mountains 
in the North Island are the volcanic mountains, the 
two highest of which extend “above the limit of 
perpetual snow.” Tongariro is 6,500 feet high, and 
is at times an active volcano. Raupehu and Mount 
Egmont are 9,100 and 8,800 feet high respectively; 
and both are extinct volcanoes. The mountain 
ranges of the North Island are largely covered with 
thick forests. The South Island is more open, much 
of the land being covered with native grass which 
is used for pasturage. Stewart Island is also heavily 
wooded. The forests of New Zealand are mostly ever¬ 
green; and more than once we longed to see the gen¬ 
eral bursting of buds in spring and falling of leaves 
in the autumn. Ferns grow everywhere in great 
profusion and variety, from the smallest and most 
delicate kind up to the tall, graceful tree-fern. 


36 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


New Zealand also has some extensive and product¬ 
ive plains. In the North Island these plains lie on 
the western side of the mountain range; and in the 
South Island they are found mostly on the eastern 
side of the Southern Alps. There are also several 
excellent harbors on the eastern side of both islands. 
The southwestern part of the South Island is largely 
cut up with sounds, or fiords, which penetrate the 
country from the sea. They are long, narrow and 
deep, and wind about in serpentine fashion. Snow¬ 
capped mountains rise precipitously from the water’s 
edge to the height of five and ten thousand feet. 
Everywhere there is a blending of the beautiful and 
the sublime. 

There are more than forty lakes in New Zealand, 
several of them large and very beautiful. Lake 
Taupo, in the North Island, is the largest one, being 
forty-four miles long and averaging fifteen miles 
wide. Te Anau, the largest lake in the South Island, 
is forty miles long and covers an area of 132 square 
miles. Lake Wakatipu, also in the South Island, 
is fifty miles long and has an area of 112 square 
miles. Its greatest depth is 1,350 feet. But the 
most remarkable natural feature is the extensive 
district of hot springs, lakes, intermittent geysers, 
natural tepid baths, steam-emitting earth holes, 
small mud volcanoes,etc.,around lakes Rotorua and 
Rotomahana, in the North Island. It was here also 
that the beautiful white and pink Rotomahana Ter¬ 
races were formed by the deposit of siliceous rock 
from the water as it flowed from the boiling springs 





GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NEW ZEALAND 37 

down the slopes of the hills into the lake, and which 
were destroyed by the sudden and terrible eruption 
of Mount Tarawera on the night of June 10, 1886. 
This district has a great attraction for tourists from 
all parts of the civilized world, and it is fast becom¬ 
ing the sanatorium of the Australasian Colonies. 

New Zealand abounds in rivers and small streams; 
some of the latter, clear and cold, leap down the 
sides of the mountains and hills and wind their way 
to the sea. The rivers are not large; the Clutha, in 
the South Island, the largest one, is only navigable 
by small steamers forty miles from the sea. 

Almost any kind of climate may be found in New 
Zealand; for, as some one has said, the climate is 
largely made up of “samples, ” The mean annual 
temperature of the North Island is 57 degrees Fahr.; 
and that of the South Island 52 degrees Fahr. Yet 
these figures are somewhat deceptive, for they do not 
account for the fact that the climate differs greatly 
in localities only a few miles apart. The greatest 
objection to the New Zealand climate is the frequent 
and sudden changes experienced in many places. But 
taken as a whole the climate is a fairly good one. 
While in parts it is moist, in others bracing, it is 
generally free from any great extremes, being mostly 
mild and balmy. The snow-fall is mainly confined 
to the mountains and hills, and thunder is seldom 
heard. Cyclones are unknown in New Zealand. You 
can pursue your daily vocation with little danger of 
being struck with lightning,and retire at night with¬ 
out fear of being blown away by a cyclone. 


88 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


New Zealand produces almost all the things that 
are to be found in the United States and Europe, 
and then it has some things peculiar to itself. The 
chief products of the colony are wool, meat, grain, 
gold, coal and dairy produce, in the order named. 
There is much fine pastoral land in the country, and 
every year large quantities of the finest wool in the 
world are shipped to England and America. Next 
in importance comes the meat trade. We never 
tasted better beef and mutton than we ate during 
our six years’ residence in New Zealand. The frozen 
meat trade which has been built up during the last 
fourteen or fifteen years is most remarkable. There 
are now twenty-one freezing establishments in the 
Colony,scattered along in the cities of the east coast. 
The carcasses of the animals are frozen in these estab¬ 
lishments, then put onto the great steamships hav¬ 
ing refrigerating machinery, and carried to London. 
Some of these steamers are capable of carrying 70,000 
carcasses at one time. At present nearly 2,000,000 
frozen carcasses of sheep and lambs are shipped to 
England every year. Also about 56,000 hundred¬ 
weight of frozen beef. Wheat does well on the plains 
of New Zealand, and is extensively cultivated. The 
average yield is generally from 24 to nearly 27 bush¬ 
els per acre. There are several payable gold-fields in 
the two principal islands. Oats, barley, potatoes, 
flax, beans, peas, turnips, cabbages, apples, pears, 
peaches, plumbs, cherries, gooseberries, currants, 
raspberries, strawberries, apricots, quinces, loquots, 
figs, grapes, melons, etc., flourish in New Zealand. 




GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NEW ZEALAND 


89 


There are two products peculiar to New Zealand of 
which I must now speak The New Zealand flax, 
or, more correctly speaking, the Phormium tenax ,is a 
perennial plant that grows in bunches or groups, 
with hard, sword-shaped leaves from three to four¬ 
teen feet in length. Each bunch also sends up a 
number of stalks several feet above the leaves which 
bear a profusion of yellow*and sometimes red flow¬ 
ers, followed by seed vessels containing black seed. 
I have seen thousands of acres of flat, uncultivated 
land thickly set with the large, tall bunches of this 
curious native flax. Before the country was settled 
by Europeans the Maoris made from the fibers of the 
plant a coarse cloth with which they partially clothed 
themselves. They also used it for making baskets, 
mats, fishing nets and sails for their canoes. The 
name Phormium tenax comes from the Greek words 
phormos , meaning a basket, and tenax , strong. It 
is now mainly used by the Europeans, for making 
ropes and twine. I have brought some fine samples 
of the flax home with me. 

The other product peculiar to New Zealand is the 
kauri gum. It consists of the sap of the kauri tree 
which has become dry and solid. This tree is a 
species of pine called by botanists the Dammara 
australis. It is found only in the northern part of 
New Zealand, and sometimes grows to the size of 
twelve feet in diameter. If you make an incision in 
a kauri pine it only requires a few weeks in dry 
weather for a large mass of half dried gum to ooze 
from the tree. But the great kauri forests have 


40 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


mainly disappeared, and most of the gum which 
finds its way to the market has to be dug out of the 
ground where it was deposited ages ago, before the 
trees finally disappeared. Some of this land is cov¬ 
ered with other forest trees; but other portions of it 
are open. The gum may be found in large deposits, 
or in detached lumps; sometimes just above the 
surface, but more frequently it is found many feet 
in the ground. The gum-digger uses a steel rod for 
a spear, which he pushes into the ground; and by 
constant practice he soon learns whether he is touch¬ 
ing a stone or a lump of gum. He also uses a spade 
for taking the gum from the ground. Gum-digging 
is not a very profitable occupation, and hence it is 
mostly the natives and a sort of worthless class of 
Europeans who engage in it. The merchants who 
buy the gum from the diggers grade it and carefully 
pack it in boxes. It is then shipped to the United 
States and England, where it is principally used in 
making varnish. In 1892 the export of gum was 
8,750 tons, valued at about $2,585,000 The principal 
industries of the colony are located in the chief 
towns. Among these we may further mention the 
foundries, woolen mills, flour mills, breweries, boot 
factories, biscuit factories, candle and soap factories, 
fish, meat and jam canning, etc. 

This general description of New Zealand is very 
incomplete; but it must suffice for my present pur¬ 
pose. 



LETTER VI. 


THE PEOPLE OP NEW ZEALAND. 

I am constantly being asked by intelligent persons: 
u What sort of people have you in New Zealand?” 
“What is their color?” “What language do they 
speak?” “Did you preach any in the English lan¬ 
guage?” “Were you not afraid of being cooked and 
eaten?” “What do the people do there?” “How do 
you manage to get your clothes made in that country, * 
especially according to the latest styles?” etc., etc. 

Now let me say once for all that New Zealand, 
Australia and Tasmania are British Colonies. The 
great body of the people are not black savages, but 
are English and Scotch, with a small sprinkling of 
other nationalities. Hence they speak the English 
language (or rather some of them speak dialects of 
it). Their cities are well laid out, substantially 
built, and are kept remarkably clean. You see no 
purely white houses, but the paint used on the houses 
is brown, lead-color and other dark shades. While 
their manners and customs differ in some respects 
from those in America, on the whole they are very 
similar to our own. In short, these people are our 
antipodal cousins, among whom the American feels 
at home at once, from whom, as a rule, he regeives 

41 


42 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


a hearty welcome, and whose plain, natural and easy 
society he finds well prepared for his reception. The 
children play on the streets, ride on bicycles, wade 
in the waters on the ocean beaches, go picnicking 
eat lollies (there is no candy in that country, it is 
all lollies), and some of them chew gum. The ladies, 
like their American cousins, make calls, hold little 
afternoon tea parties, and sometimes gossip a little. 
Of course most of them attend to their household 
duties, unless they can hire servants to do the work 
for them. In New Zealand, since they now have 
their rights, a few of them write articles for the news¬ 
papers on social questions and lecture to the people 
on politics. The men,after the American plan,attend 
*to business, talk politics, smoke tobacco and drink 
beer and whisky. They have two redeeming features 
over the Americans; they do not chew tobacco and 
they do very little swearing. I heard more profane 
swearing the first week, after my return to America 
than I did during my nine years’ residence in the 
Southern Hemisphere. Indeed, in all my mingling 
among the people I do not remember having heard 
a half-dozen oaths during all these years. There is 
a stringent law in the Colonies against all profane 
swearing and obscene language on the streets, and it 
is strictly enforced. Spittoons are not in demand, 
and even spitting on the streets, in the houses, and 
in the presence of company, to say nothing of tobac¬ 
co juice, is a great offense to good taste. 

When we entered the border of Kentucky on our 
return home the first thing that attracted our atten- 




THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND 


48 


tion was the men entering the train working on their 
quids, like goats chewing cud, and spitting on the 
car floor. The goats deserve our respect for being 
above chewing tobacco and spitting. Indeed, no liv¬ 
ing thing on earth, except some American men and 
the loathsome tobacco worms, will condescend to 
crawl side by side while devouring the poisonous 
weed. No doubt these men considered themselves 
gentlemen; but they would not be so considered in 
Australasian society. When we saw and realized 
afresh this foolish, expensive and filthy habit, we 
felt almost ashamed of our native state. Smoking 
is an improvement only from the point of decency. 

New Zealand has a population, stated in round 
numbers, of about 600,000, exclusive of aborigines 
and Chinese. The Chinese number about 5,000. 
The numerous towns and cities of the Colony are 
mostly distributed along the eastern coast of the two 
principal islands. The four leading cities are Auck¬ 
land and Wellington (the capital) in the North 
Island, and Christchurch and Dunedin in the South 
Island, all being nearly the same size, with an aver- 
age population, according to the last census, of about 
44,000. Auckland is pretty and warm, Wellington 
is compact and bleak, Christchurch is flat and dry; 
and Dunedin is picturesque and chilly. Christchurch 
resembles an English city; but Dunedin is essentially 
a Scotch city. It is said that even the Chinamen, 
in writing letters, add Me. to their names in order 
to secure positions in the city. 

The people are well supplied with church privileges. 


44 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


The Roman Catholics are firmly established in New 
Zealand, and the leading Protestant denominations 
are well represented. The Church of England takes 
the lead in membership, and is closely followed by 
the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists in the 
order stated. The Salvation Army number over 
9,000; and even the Mormons are trying to establish 
themselves among the Maoris in the King Country. 

The schools, colleges and universities of New Zea¬ 
land and Australia are first-class. The public schools 
are well graded, and the attendance at them is every¬ 
where compulsory. This law of compulsion results 
in the diffusion of education, and practically destroys 
illiteracy. Hence, the people are intelligent, and are 
well educated so far as the public schools can teach 
them. Large numbers of them, especially the work¬ 
ing-men, are skeptics, and free-thought societies and 
halls are to be found in nearly all the principal cities 
and towns. The great majority of the people, how¬ 
ever, are church-goers, and good lectures, concerts, 
etc., are well patronized by all classes. The hearers 
can see a good point when made by the speakers, and 
are quick to respond to it. If they are in sympathy 
with the lecturer they encourage him by frequent 
demonstrations of approval. This demonstration 
usually takes the form of shouting, “Hear, hear,” 
clapping the hands and stamping the feet. When 
they are not in sympathy with the speaker they do 
not hesitate to let him know it; they can shout, “No, 
no,” hiss, groan, and create a general uproar. I have 
seen the mingling of the two elements resulting in 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND 


45 


the abrupt closing of the meeting in disorder and 
tumult. When debating publicly with infidel lec¬ 
turers, as I have done, their supporters will rally in 
full force and listen with great approval to their 
champion; but the moment his opponent rises they 
try to make such noise and confusion that his points 
can not be heard. This is their idea of liberty for 
which they plead so loudly. Sometimes the Christian 
element in the audience will pay them off in their 
own coin. Such is the custom of the people; hence 
it is often difficult to hold what an American would 
consider an orderly public meeting, except religious 
services, which are not allowed to be disturbed in 
any way. 

The daily newspapers are numerous, and they 
move on a higher moral plane than the average 
American newspaper. They do not fill their columns 
with the horrible details of vice in order to meet a 
public demand. Not all the things seen and heard 
in the worst police courts find expression in the 
daily papers. There are a few notable exceptions, 
in which the infidel editors pander to the lowest 
tastes and passions of the worst class of godless 
readers. The Australasian newspapers may some¬ 
times lack in American enterprise; but this defect 
is more than compensated for with the more whole¬ 
some moral atmosphere which they create. Their 
editorials at times may be long and somewhat prosy; 
but on the other hand they are comparatively free 
from acrimony and partisan bias. The benevolent 
institutions and the sayings and doings of the preach- 


46 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ers and churches are freely reported in these papers. 
Some of the leading daily papers of New Zealand 
have frequently reported my sermons and lectures 
on popular subjects,sometimes verbatim. Such mat¬ 
ter does not have to be forced on the editors; the 
shorthand reporters seek it for the information and 
benefit of their readers. My treatment by the press 
of the Southern Hemisphere, excepting one or two 
low infidel sheets, the backs of whose unscrupulous 
editors were more than once subjected to the Chris¬ 
tian lash in my hands, was uniformly kind, fair 
and generous. 

The Temperance cause is making very rapid strides 
in New Zealand. In 1894 Parliament passed a law 
giving the people the power of the direct veto on a 
three-fifths majority. Hence, all the people now 
need is the three-fifths majority to enable them to 
banish the saloons,or public houses as the English 
call them, from the country. Local option already 
exists in some districts; and it is probably only a 
question of a few years when the Colony will have 
constitutional prohibition. Also in 1898 the women 
of New Zealand were enfranchised, Parliament pass¬ 
ing an electcrial bill which places the women, so far 
as voting is concerned, on an equality in every re¬ 
spect with the men. The women generally have 
availed themselves of the privilege of voting, con¬ 
ferred on them by the men. In the first General 
Election, which was held soon after the passage of 
the bill, out of a total population of about 298,000 
females of all ages in New Zealand, 109,461 women 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND 


47 


registered, and 90,290 voted. The election was con¬ 
sidered the most quiet and orderly election ever held 
in the Colony. While the women were considerably 
divided in their voting, the great majority of them 
cast their votes in the interests of temperance and 
purity. No doubt this new power in politics will 
materially assist in hastening the prohibition cause 
to a successful issue. 

The railways and telegraph lines of the Australa¬ 
sian Colonies are very successfully operated by the 
Government. The Government has also wisely es¬ 
tablished Savings Banks in connection with all the 
principal postoffices. Deposits in amounts as small 
as one shilling can be made, and four and one-half 
per cent interest is paid on all deposits for the whole 
time they are in the bank. Deposits and withdrawals 
can be made at any time. These banks have been es¬ 
tablished in the interests of the people,and they have 
proved a great boon to the laboring class. No form 
of government that does not consider the general in¬ 
terests of the people has the moral right to exist for 
one moment. 


LETTER VII. 


THE NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND. 

The natives of New Zealand, called Maoris, be¬ 
long to the Malay division of the human race. The 
authorities agree in the opinion that, they had prob¬ 
ably inhabited the country about 300 years at the 
time of Captain Tasman’s visit in 1642. The Bible 
and science unite in teaching the unity of man; hence 
these people were not created in New Zealand. How, 
then, did they get there? We do not certainly know. 
Tradition, in which all the Maori tribes agree, and 
modern science make it probable that a fleet of ca¬ 
noes found its way there from the Hawaiian Islands 
by way of the intervening Polynesian Islands. The 
natives of Hawaii, New Zealand and the Polynesian 
group of islands closely resemble one another in ap¬ 
pearance; and the language of the people of these 
various islands is so nearly identical that they have 
little difficulty in understanding one another. 

When discovered by Captain Tasman and visited 
later by Captain Cook, they were savages and canni¬ 
bals. They made themselves coarse clothing out of 
the native flax,tattooed their faces, stuck feathers in 
their hair, carried ugly war clubs, and, on the whole, 
48 






































































































































* 




MAORI CHIEF AND WIFE, TATTOOED. 











THE NATIVES OP NEW ZEALAND 


49 


looked somewhat fierce and hideous. They also en¬ 
gaged in bloody tribal wars, and worshiped idols. 
An early missionary to the Maoris says: “Perhaps 
it is not too much to say that war was chiefly carried 
on that they might indulge in their cannibal feasts; 
and living in an island so destitute of land animals, 
we see, perhaps, the true origin of this horrid prac¬ 
tice, although their traditions assert the contrary, 
and affirm that it was first done to strike terror into 
their enemies.” We are again told that “even when 
the lives of those taken in war were spared, still the 
poor slave, though he might be kept for a time to 
cultivate his master’s land, was yet little more than 
store provision; and when fat and in good condition, 
liable any day to be knocked on the head and cast 
into the oven. Many a memento of this horrid cus¬ 
tom still remains; the same word was equally used 
for a tame pig, or pet bird, as fora slave; they were 
all mokai , and intended, as the word intimates, to be 
used as food, when required. An anecdote is preserved 
of a poor slave girl who was commanded to go and 
bring fuel, then light a fire and heat the oven; and 
when all was prepared, was herself knocked on the 
head and put into it.” 

Yet the Maoris possessed some noble traits of char¬ 
acter, which have been too often overlooked by those 
who have written in the interests of the white man 
only. Not much of the Maori side of the question 
has been written; but we know enough to justify 
us in the conclusion that the conquest (for such is its 
right name) of New Zealand is no exception to the 


50 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


general rule, one of deception, injustice, oppression 
and ultimate extinction. When some of the Euro¬ 
pean sailors first set foot on this fair land, they were 
received with kindness as well as a degree of wonder 
by its inhabitants. But true to the instincts of their 
lower nature, these sailors decoyed some of the hand¬ 
somest of the Maori maidens on board their ship, 
and then suddenly spread their sails and disappeared 
to unknown parts. Other sailors landed, and these 
natives, by tokens of friendship, persuaded them to 
go into the thick grass,where they were immediately 
slain,cooked and eaten What else could be expected? 
Now, if the pots could have been replenished with 
the flesh of the veritable maiden-stealers, our horror 
of cannibalism might have been toned down to a 
sense of admiration of this heathen measure of re¬ 
taliation. As it is, the civilized whiteman has little 
to say in his own favor. 

The first missionaries arrived in 1814, from Aus¬ 
tralia. They were received and treated kindly by 
the natives. They labored earnestly for ten long 
years before they baptized their first convert, which 
took place in September, 1825. But when once the 
gospel took root in the minds and hearts of the peo¬ 
ple it spread very rapidly. A great transformation 
took place. Tribal wars mainly ceased, cannibalism 
was abandoned, the idols were thrown away aud 
hundreds from the different tribes flocked to hear 
and accept the gospel. New Testaments could not 
be imported fast enough to supply the demand, and 
everywhere there was a call for missionaries. On 



THE NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND 


51 


Christmas Day, 1846, there was a reunion of several 
tribes, when 600, out of an assemblage of 2,000, sat 
down together at the Lord’s Table. A year later 
the Christmas holidays were observed by a remark¬ 
able series of meetings. In one day, after a careful 
examination of candidates, 672 were admitted to the 
fellowship of the Church by the officiating mission¬ 
ary. 

Respecting this series of meetings the missionary 
says: u While near seven hundred Europeans were 
attending the races on one side of the Wanganui 
River,exactly opposite,nearly 4,000 of the lately bar¬ 
barous heathen had congregated from all parts, and 
from considerable distances, some coming fully one 
hundred and fifty miles, to celebrate the Saviour’s 
birth.” On this same Christmas eve 162 natives 
were baptized according to the rites of the Church 
of England. In one of these meetings we have re¬ 
lated a remarkable example of the gospel’s power 
over the heathen mind. A noted chief, named 
Tamati Wiremu Puna, was admitted to the Lord’s 
Supper. By his side knelt Panapa, another great 
chief, who several years before had killed and eaten 
Tamati’s father. This was the first time they had 
met since the murder; and Tamati was noticed to be 
perfectly quivering with emotion. After the serv¬ 
ice, when asked the cause of his excitement, he re¬ 
lated the circumstance and said it was only the gospel 
which had given him a new nature that had enabled 
him to partake of the same bread and cup with the 
slayer and eater of his father. We have another il- 



52 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


lustration of a noble trait of Maori character in an 
incident that is a complete counterpart of Grace 
Darling’s exploit. Several years ago a fine ship, 
the Delaware, was wrecked on a rock near the town 
of Nelson, and the crew were in imminent danger. 
A young Maori woman, a chief’s daughter named 
Julia, immediately disrobed herself, entered the tur¬ 
bulent sea and swam out to the rock,carrying a rope 
which, with the aid of her husband, was made fast 
from the shore to the rock. On this rope all the 
crew escaped, except the chief mate, who was too ill 
in bed to make the effort. Julia and her husband 
were richly rewarded by the English residents for 
their bravery and skill. 

From the beginning the missionaries could move 
about among the cannibal tribes from one end of the 
islands to the other, without the fear of molestation, 
simply because the native was inspired with the idea 
that the missionary was his friend, and had come to 
do him good. The Rev. Richard Taylor, M. A., F. 
G. S., a missionary of long experience among this 
people, writing in 1868, says: “Had the Government 
endeavored to rule the native race by moral influence 
only, there is little doubt that there would never 
have been any necessity for the aid of military force. ” 
. . . “The natives were prepared to receive our 

laws and institutions, and to yield obedience to the 
Queen’s representative—his word was law; but when 
they perceived that it was not the advancement of 
their race which was aimed at, but that of the Euro¬ 
pean alone; that they,as a people, were ignored, that 



THE NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND 


58 


no power was conceded, no place given to the chiefs 
in our councils, no voice in framing those laws 
which they were still expected to obey; but only 
one grand object was kept in view, the increase of 
one race at the expense of the other, then a revulsion 
of feeling gradually took place.” Then, after speak¬ 
ing of a number of acts of injustice toward the na¬ 
tives, one of which was an effort to seize their waste 
lands, the writer says, “This was the true cause of 
the first war.” When the war was in progress, some 
inhuman acts were perpetrated by soldiers under the 
British flag. On Sunday morning a goodly number 
of Maoris who had been taught by the missionaries, 
were holding religious services in the woods, when a 
company of Forest Rifles crept stealthily forward, 
surprised and shot down the worshipers in the midst 
of a song of praise. One European fiend, captain of 
a boat, set up a trade in dried Maoris’ heads, w f hich 
at that time were much sought after in England. 
“So great was the demand,”says our author, “that 
marauding expeditions were frequently undertaken 
merely to procure heads for traders, and those who 
had the finest tattooed countenances were often mur¬ 
dered for the sake of their heads.” 

Time has wrought a considerable change in the 
Maoris. From about 100,000 they have diminished 
to some 44,000 at the present time. Most of them 
live in the northern part of the North Island in what 
is known as the King Country, w’here they still re¬ 
tain some of their semi-civilized customs. They are 
however, largely under the influence of Christianity 


54 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


as represented by the leading denominations, and 
Maoris regularly take their seats in the New Zealand 
Parliament. It was my privilege, before leaving that 
Colony, to baptize an intelligent, well educated 
Maori evangelist who for more than a year preached 
and lectured to large crowds in New Zealand and 
Australia; and who subsequently visited England, 
where he created considerable interest in the Maori 
race, and in other ways did a good work. 

While the Maoris are a doomed race, which has 
come up through much tribulation, let us hope that 
the end will be better than the beginning. 

Before leaving New Zealand, I have a few frag¬ 
ments I wish to gather up in this closing letter. 

On Thursday we took a coasting steamship from 
Auckland, and sailed down the west coast to Wel¬ 
lington, the capital of the Colony, arriving there on 
Saturday evening, and were met by a large number 
of the members of the church, who gave us a hearty 
welcome. Having received a call from this church 
before leaving America, we remained here two years, 
preaching the gospel to good congregations. During 
this time a large number of people became obedient 
to the faith. Wellington proved too windy and rainy 
for ns to make a longer stay in it. Here I experi¬ 
enced earthquake shocks, saw the top of my chimney 
blown over in my neighbor’s yard, wore glasses to 
keep the dust out of my eyes, and chased my hat 
along the street. It is claimed that a Wellington 
man is always known in the other cities of the 
Colony by his putting up his hand to hold his hat 




THE NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND 


55 


when he turns a corner. Yet the city has some re¬ 
deeming features, one of which is a commodious 
harbor which is usually occupied with large ships 
from various parts of the world. 

Having accepted a call from a church in Sydney, 
Australia, we made our arrangements to leave New 
Zealand, and after a pleasant voyage of five days, 
over more than twelve hundred miles of ocean, we 
came in sight of the Sydney Heads. 



LETTER VIII. 


IN AUSTRALIA. 

The approach to Sydney is remarkably fine. It 
was on a delightful summer morning, and the sun 
was just peeping above the horizon. We looked be¬ 
fore us,and the Sydney Heads,rising perpendicularly 
from the deep water three hundred feet high, were 
in plain view. The entrance between the Heads is a 
mile wide, with a minimum depth of fifteen fathoms. 
On the cliff of the South Head stands one of the most 
beautiful lighthouses in the world, with its power¬ 
ful, revolving electric light, which can be seen twenty- 
seven miles at sea. Powerful guns on the South, 
North and Middle Heads completely command the 
entrance. 

Inside the Heads there is disclosed, in my hum¬ 
ble opinion, the most beautiful harbor in the world. 
I have not seen all the beautiful harbors in the world, 
but I have seen the principal ones and know some¬ 
thing of the others, and I do not hesitate to say that 
I have seen none and know of none, taken as a whole, 
which will equal in beauty the Sydney harbor. Be¬ 
ginning at the Heads, extending on both sides the har¬ 
bor down to the city, you count no less than twenty- 
six principal bays, with probably a score of smaller 

56 




IN AUSTRALIA 


57 


ones connected with the harbor, with deep water 
everywhere, so that the numerous steam ferry boats 
can flit about in all directions, and right up to the 
shore with perfect ease. All these promontories and 
coves give a length of water frontage which is esti¬ 
mated at one hundred and ten miles. What pleasing 
diversity! How lavish has been the hand of nature 
in distributing the objects of beauty about this spot! 
As your boat glides along you behold and admire 
with bated breath. You are charmed with your sur¬ 
roundings. Well may the people of Sydney have 
reason to be proud of their harbor. The stranger will 
readily pardon them for making their first question 
after the introduction, “What do you think of our har¬ 
bor?” He can honestly respond, “Your harbor is very 
beautiful,” and in doing so he will never fail to please 
his questioner. Expressed admiration for the harbor 
is the direct road to the Sydney people’s heart, and 
woe be to the stranger who takes a different route. 
The city also has an ocean frontage consisting alter¬ 
nately of bold cliffs and beautiful beaches and bays. 
Indeed, Sydney with her wonderful harbor, exten¬ 
sive parks, beautiful gardens, and other objects of 
interest, in and around the city, all connected by 
tram and boat, can furnish the admiring traveler 
with a new place to visit every week in the year, 
and something new to see every day in the week. In 
some respects I know of no more desirable place in 
which to live than Sydney. It is warm and sun¬ 
shiny, and its people are prosperous and hospitable. 

The city is a splendid one. Some of the build- 


58 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ings, notably the Town Hall and the General Post- 
office. are probably not surpassed in some respects 
in any other part of the world. Much of the resident 
part of the city is built on the hills; and the streets 
and lanes are somewhat narrow, but well kept. The 
tram-cars are rather formidable-looking objects,and 
are all drawn by steam motors They all start from 
a central point in the business part of the city near 
the principal quay along the bay, and radiate to the 
distant suburbs. Notwithstanding the main cross¬ 
ings are guarded by flagmen, many fatal accidents 
result from the running of these great street-trains. 
Excellent lines of omnibuses also run to all parts of 
the city and suburbs. 

The visitor to Australia from the Northern Hem¬ 
isphere will at first feel a little turned around and 
somewhat confused. He needs to feel his way slowly 
and cautiously. From the moment the American 
opens his mouth in Australia his nationality is 
known; and sometimes before he opens it. While 
he and the Australians speak the same language, he 
will soon learn that, so far as the placing of words 
is concerned, he needs a readjustment of his vocab¬ 
ulary. In one of the far-off suburbs of Sydney I asked 
an intelligent lady the way to a certain house near 
by. She promptly told me, and then said: “I dis¬ 
cover you are from across the great ocean.” I ad¬ 
mitted the fact, and then asked: “How did you 
make the discovery?” “Oh,” she said, “from the way 
you spoke;” and this after my two years’ residency 
in New Zealand, 




IN AUSTRALIA 


59 


You no longer have smoke-stacks on the steam¬ 
ships, but “funnels.” The railroads are all “rail¬ 
ways,” the coaches “carriages,” the depots “sta¬ 
tions,” the engineers“ engine-drivers, ”the conductors 
“guards,” trunks “boxes,” and valises “bags.” You 
purchase your “return” ticket instead of a round- 
trip ticket, the guard says,“Take your seats,please,” 
the station-master rings a large hand-bell, the guard 
sounds a sharp whistle, and you are off. The stores, 
though they may display many American articles 
for sale, are all “shops,” and the ladies do not go 
storing, but they go “shopping.” The dry-goods 
store is a “draper’s shop,” the hardware merchant is 
an “ironmonger.” The drug store is a “chemist’s 
shop.” You do not call for a “wash-bowl and pitch¬ 
er,” but a “wash-basin and jug.” If you wish a 
spool of cotton thread, call for a “reel of cotton,” 
and if you desire a tin bucket, ask fora “billy,” and 
if you want a tin cup,ask the “salesman” or “sales¬ 
woman” to put in a “panikin. ” There are no fleshy 
people in Australia, but there are many “stout peo¬ 
ple,’. 5 “strong people,” “short people,” and “tall 
people.” I once lent a colonized Frenchman a book 
to read. He soon came to the words “fleshy wom¬ 
an,” and he returnd the book in a fit of laughter. A 
“low” person is a person of bad character; and if 
you ask a lady who has been ill if she is getting 
“stout” again, you will probably make tracks fast 
with the heels toward the house. Many of the Syd¬ 
ney ladies are rather tall and slim. They are de¬ 
scribed as “corn-stalks.” The gentlemen do not 


/ 


60 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


walk with canes, but with “sticks;” and instead of 
tall, silk hats, or “stove-pipes,” they wear “belltop- 
pers. ” The ladies’ parasols are sometimes called by 
the significant name of “husband-beaters.” All 
ladies are women, but all women in Australia are 
not called “ladies.” The general forests are called 
“bush.” A large land owner is called a “squatter,” 
and his holding a “station.” Sometimes he estab¬ 
lishes a “squatocracy. ” The small farmer in Aus¬ 
tralian slang is a “cocatoo. ” “Bail up,” is the same 
as the American “hold up.” The laborer who trav¬ 
els from place to place carries his “swag” on his 
back, and is known as a “swag-man.” To “hump 
his swag” is to make a start. He calls his food 
“tucker.” The chief part of his food is a “damper” 
which he makes by mixing flour with water and bak¬ 
ing it in the ashes. He makes his tea in his “billy.” 
A simple person is said to be a “shingle short.” A 
stubborn person is “pigheaded,” and this quality of 
mind is “pigheadedness.” An ignorant person is an 
“ass.” To criticise a speaker is to “pick him to 
pieces.” A “larrikin” is a street loafer; and a 
“larrikiness” is a female loafer, A “push” is a gang 
of “larrikins” or “larrikinesses.” The children 
thank you for a gift by saying “Ta,” (broad a); and 
your friends frequently say, “Ta-ta,” for good-bye. 
In announcements for public meetings the people are 
urged to “roll up,” in large numbers; and sometimes 
they are askd to “turn up.” If you surprise a lady 
by telling her something, she will exclaim, “Just 
fancy 1” If her tea is prepared to her liking she 



IN AUSTRALIA 


61 


says it is “just beautiful,” or “very nice.” Crack¬ 
ers are called “biscuits,” and biscuits are called 
“scones,” and are always eaten cold. The elevators 
are called “lifts. ” 

You frequently see a card hanging in the windows 
with the words on it, “Mangling done here.” This 
means that the woman of the house takes in plain 
washed clothes, folds them and passes them through 
a machine similar to a wringer, only much larger, 
called a “mangle.” This is a perfect substitute for 
ironing, and is done so much more easily and rapidly. 
An American missionary, whose headquarters were in 
India, visited Australia, and for a time stopped in 
Adelaide with a prominent gentleman. One day in 
the absence of the family a knock was heard on the 
door. The missionary responded. On opening the 
door a boy stood before him with a large basket 
filled with something. The boy said, “I have brought 
the mangling.” The missionary, supposing the boy 
was “hawking” something to eat, said, “Take it 
away, we don’t want any to-day.” Later his hostess 
explained to him that he had sent away the boy with 
the clothes which he had returned 1 By the time his 
friends were finished relating this rich joke the mis¬ 
sionary understood the meaning of “mangle.” I got 
this fact from the missionary’s own mouth. Perhaps 
some of my readers can name the man. 

Among those who are not very well educated you 
often hear the letter “h” misplaced. It is said that 
a preacher who was reading the language of our Lord 
to his disciples, “It is I; be not afraid,” read it, 


62 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


“Hit his I; be not afraid. ” These are not all the 
peculiar and slang words and phrases we heard 
among the Australians and New Zealanders; but 
they will suffice as fair samples. But on the whole, 
the people of these Southern Colonies speak a re¬ 
markably pure English. 

Many of the Australians have their four meals a 
day; breakfast in the morning, dinner at noon, in¬ 
cluding meat and vegetables, tea in the evening and a 
light supper about nine at night. They are not sat¬ 
isfied with these four meals; but if you make a call 
in the afternoon you are expected to take a cup of 
tea with butter, bread and cake. If you make more 
than one call the same afternoon this form of eti¬ 
quette must be repeated. The preacher who makes 
several pastoral calls the same day must touch 
lightly at each place, or else he will require an elas¬ 
tic stomach and a large basket. 

Having walked one day some distance to make a 
call in a Sydney suburb, I rather relished the in¬ 
variable cup of tea After taking our departure I 
remarked to my wife that the cup of tea was very 
refreshing. “Yes,” she said, “it was no doubt the 
milk I saw through the window the servant girl take 
from the old goat in the back yard that imparted to 
your cup of tea that peculiar flavor so inviting to 
you!” I thought I never liked tea quite so well 
after that. I may remark just here that it is not 
the custom of the Sydney people to milk goats imme¬ 
diately before a tea party. 

In Sydney we spent three very pleasant and sue- 



IN AUSTRALIA 


68 


cessful years. I was constantly preaching the gos¬ 
pel, lecturing on Christian Evidences and holding 
public debates. In one debate which lasted four 
evenings, I met the champion atheist, a disciple of 
Herbert Spencer, sent out from London to demolish 
Christianity in New South Wales. He did not suc¬ 
ceed in his work of demolition. The very “Hall of 
Science,” the foundation of which he and his support¬ 
ers laid in Sydney with a great flourish of infidel 
rams’ horns, has been secured by the church for which 
I preached, and is now used as a house of God. It 
is only another case in which the rider of the dumb 
ass who set out to curse Israel has been made to 
bless the Lord’s people. 

Sydney was the stronghold of infidelity, and I 
elected to meet it on its own ground To this end I 
was instrumental in organizing the Christian Evi¬ 
dence and Defense Society of New South Wales, un¬ 
der which it was my pleasure to deliver two courses 
of lectures to large and appreciative audiences in a 
popular hall in the heart of the city; the chair being 
occupied by a mayor, a member of Parliament and 
other prominent citizens, and the lectures being ex¬ 
tensively reported in the daily papers. In speaking 
of the work of this society its president, in writing 
in a Melbourne paper, said: “Any of those whose 
privilege it was to regularly attend the lectures given 
in the Temperance Hall, Pitt Street, for two seasons 
past, will bear us out when we say that the work 
done by the society has been a great success. We 
have abundant evidence to prove that the lectures 


64 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


were appreciated, and were instrumental in remov¬ 
ing difficulties from the minds of both believers and 
unbelievers.” Alfred Allen, a member of the New 
South Wales Parliament, who presided over a num¬ 
ber of these lectures, in a letter of commendation, 
also says: “I never heard a more able defense of 
Christian truth. I consider the cause of Christian 
truth has a very able and pains-taking advocate in J. 
F. Floyd. I do not know his equal in calm and 
thoughtful controversy.” 

Each summer we took a fortnight holiday. While 
other people were rushing off to other cities or to 
the mountain slopes, we preferred to spend our hol¬ 
iday in the woods among the flowers and beside some 
beautiful bay. Tent-life amidst such surroundings, 
supplemented by the clear sky of New South Wales, 
is a real pleasure. One afternoon on a beautiful 
spring day,myself and wife decided to select our hol¬ 
iday camping ground. We took the tram running 
several miles toward the ocean; and reaching the 
terminus, we walked some three miles to a secluded 
little bay. There was only one small house in the 
“bush” near the bay. Here we found a hard-faced 
laborer, with a poor horse harnessed to a primitive 
looking Australian “dog-cart,” who was in the act of 
starting to the terminus of our tram-line. Having sat¬ 
isfied ourselves with the place and emptied our lunch 
basket, we asked the man if he would give us a “lift” 
back to the tram. We wanted the novelty of such 
a ride. “Certainly,” he said, “get right in.” We 
took our seats on a loose board extending across the 




IN AUSTRALIA 


65 


cart; the driver sat on the left shaft, close up to the 
“plug’s” tail, and we started. Our consciences were 
not altogether clear. Turning the top of a long hill 
the fun commenced. The old horse “bolted,” and 
for three hundred yards his furious movements 
alternated between plunging forward and sending his 
heels flying into the air. Seconds lengthened into 
hours and we wondered what the end would be. 
finally he came to a place by the roadside from 
which dirt had been taken for brick-making, leaving 
a perpendicular embankment twenty feet high,with 
a large basin of very uneven bottom filled with a 
mixture of water and red clay to about the consist- 
oncy of thick soup. Into this the excited animal 
plunged, ramming his head against the wall of earth 
and sending us sprawling, head first, into the pud¬ 
dle. We got a “lift” sure enough. The first thing I 
saw after scratching the thin mud from my mouth, 
ears and eyes, was my wife lying under the horse’s 
belly with his feet still flying over her body. I 
dragged her out, and then we compared notes. It 
was found that I had one rib broken, the wife had 
several bruises and the crown of her sailor hat kicked 
out, and both of us were considerably shaken up. 
But our Ijlack clothes 1 We retired to a farm house 
near by and scraped and dried and brushed them, 
but the red clay defied all effort to get rid of it. We 
discharged our driver and outfit, and as a matter of 
good policy on the part of a preacher and his wife, 
we went quietly into the city in the night time. I 
was thankful to reach home with all of my ribs, if 


66 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


one of them was broken. The wife w r as satisfied to 
lose the crown of her hat and be saved further loss 
from the sharp hoof by her hair, which had been 
rolled on top of her head according to the prevailing 
fashion. It will be seen that “globe trotters” have 
their undignified downs as well as ups. 

It will have been noticed by the reader ere this 
that native names of things in Australia and New 
Zealand have been very largely retained; and with 
the pronunciation of these names the stranger will 
have some difficulty. They are applied to ships, 
houses, mountains, rivers, bays, etc. We thought 
those in New Zealand bad enough, some of which, 
when properly pronounced, are musical and full of 
meaning. But we have met a few in Australia that 
cap the climax. Take as a sample this name of a 
Sydney bay and suburb—Woolloomooloo. 




LETTER IX. 


A SHORT SKETCH OF AUSTRALIA. 

Australia is too large and interesting to be de¬ 
scribed in a brief letter; therefore I make no attempt 
to adequately describe it. It is in many respects a 
peculiar and wonderful country. It was the last 
continent discovered by the European. Historically 
it is, therefore, a new continent; geologically it is 
the oldest country in the world. Many animals and 
plants that flourished on other continents ages ago 
are still preserved in Australia. Some of these which 
long since have become extinct in Europe and Amer¬ 
ica reach far back into geological time. 

Australia has been a sort of combined Zoological 
and Botanical garden in which has been preserved 
the animals and plants of former ages as living ex¬ 
amples of what other parts of the world have pro¬ 
duced. Hence, Australia has many strange plants 
and curious animals. It may be called the land of 
the kangaroo and the emu. But most of the native 
mammals of Australia are marsupials, and the kan¬ 
garoo is the largest and most remarkable of the 
marsupial class. Many species of kangaroos are rep¬ 
resented in Australia. The largest size,which mainly 
inhabits the interior, is reddish; and among the 
67 


68 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


smaller kinds may be mentioned the wallabies and 
kangaroo-rats. There is also a peculiar kind that 
lives in the trees, called the tree-kangaroo, which 
was discovered by Europeans only a few years ago. 
Kangaroos have become so troublesome in some parts 
of Australia that the Government offered a premium 
on each animal killed, and in five years, between 
1880 and 1885, no less than six millions of them 
were slain. 

The Jarge emu, which belongs to the ostrich fam¬ 
ily, is still numerous in the open country of Austra¬ 
lia While they can not fly, they are remarkably 
fleet-footed, and are sometimes hunted by the white 
man on horseback with fast dogs. They are also 
very strong, and, when being closely pursued, have 
been known to send a dog into eternity with one vi¬ 
cious kick—that is, if there is any eternity for dogs. 

Many of the birds in Australia are brilliantly 
plumed, but are not noted as sweet songsters. Par¬ 
rots are numerous, and among these are included the 
strange black and white cockatoos. There is a re¬ 
markable bird,common in Australia,called the laugh¬ 
ing jackass. It is probably the ugliest and clumsiest 
bird in the country. It has a long shovel-like beak, 
with which it makes it lively for the snakes and liz¬ 
ards on which it chiefly feeds. To hear two or three 
of these birds together in a tree-top in the early 
morning with their tittering ha 1 ha! ha! ha! ha! it 
is difficult to imagine that you are not listening to 
a number of men in the height of uncontrollable hi¬ 
larity. I have met a few laughing jackasses in other 



A SHORT SKETCH OF AUSTRALIA 


69 


countries, but they are without wings and live in 
houses. 

The forests of Australia, like New Zealand, are 
evergreen. In many respects the plants and large 
trees are very curious and interesting. Some trees, 
for example, have their leaves placed vertically, and 
hence do not give much shade. Some cherries have 
the seed on the outside of the berry. The gum, or 
eucalyptus, is a prominent tree everywhere in the 
country, and it varies in stature from dwarf bushes 
to 471 feet in height. They are straight, and send 
out most of their branches near the top. According 
to the latest statements of botanists, the number of 
known species of flowering plants and ferns in Aus¬ 
tralia is about 8,909. But the most remarkable thing 
is that 7,700 of these are peculiar to Australia. 

Australia is about the size of the United States, 
having an area of about 8,000,000 square miles,with 
an estimated population of about 8,100,000. Its 
surface is a low plateau. It has been compared to 
a gigantic plate with its flat interior and gradually 
elevated edges. Much of the interior is desert. It 
has no very pretentious mountain ranges or rivers. 
The chief mountain chain is the Australian Alps, 
the loftiest peaks of which are only a little over 7,000 
feet high. Mount Townsend, the highest summit in 
Australia, is only 7,059 feet high. There are no ac¬ 
tive volcanoes in the country, though there are sev¬ 
eral extinct ones. The Murray is the largest river 
on the continent, and the lower part of it is naviga¬ 
ble only during the rainy season. 


70 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


In the interior the climate is hot and dry; and 
around the southern and much of the eastern and 
western coasts it is temperate, pleasant and healthy. 
Of course the seasons in Australia are reversed, and 
Christmas comes in the middle of the summer. The 
cities, towns and tillable lands are distributed around 
the sea-board, where they get the benefit of the best 
climate and the greatest rain-fall. 

The continent of Australia comprises five British 
Colonies, namely, Queensland, New South Wales, 
Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia; 
and their respective capitals, in the order named, are 
Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. 
These cities are marvels of beauty and energy, and 
centres of business which would prove an agreeable 
surprise to many Americans. Cleaner and better 
governed cities I have never seen. Melbourne is the 
largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, having a 
population of about 400.000. Sydney follows with 
a population of about 350,000. Adelaide, Brisbane 
and Perth are still smaller. 

Australia has much fine pasture land, and millions 
of sheep and cattle feed on the native grass. Large 
quantities of wool are exported annually. Wheat is 
extensively grown. Oranges, lemons and grapes flour¬ 
ish in New South Wales. Sugar-cane, bananas and 
pineapples are cultivated in Queensland. Rich gold 
mines are worked in all the colonies. In 1869 a nug¬ 
get,called the “Welcome Stranger,” was found which 
weighed 190 pounds, and was worth about $40,000. 
Now don’t all start to Australia at once. Such nug¬ 
gets are rather scarce nowadays. 



A SHORT SKETCH OF AUSTRALIA 


71 


The black native inhabitants of Australia, gener¬ 
ally called “blacks,” belong to the lowest order of 
the human race, and yet even the most degraded 
cannibal tribes have some religious ideas. There is 
no doubt that leading scholars are correct in assert¬ 
ing the universality of religion, and that the Dar¬ 
winian school is wrong in claiming that the human 
race in all its branches has been developed from the 
lower animals. Their genius and skill in making and 
throwing the famous boomerang have gained for 
these “blacks” a world-wide notoriety. We brought 
home with us a fine specimen of the boomerang. 

The Australian natives are fast disappearing before 
the advancing tide of civilization, or rather before 
the shot-guns and revolvers of the “squatters.” 
From probably 200,000 sixty years ago, they have 
been gradually reduced to some 60,000. It will soon 
be a repetition of the old fable of the lamb inside 
the wolf. 


LETTER X. 


OUR RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND. 

In 1890 we returned to New Zealand. This time 
we went to live in the Scotch city of Dunedin, in the 
South Island. But we found it difficult to sever the 
cords that bound us to Australia. We had enjoyed 
special advantages in Sydney. We had come in con¬ 
tact with great men from all parts of the world, and 
especially from England. We had spent many use¬ 
ful hours in the beautiful and extensive Botanical 
and Zoological Gardens, studying the representative 
plants and animals of the country and the world. 
We had read scores of instructive books from the 
finest absolutely free circulating library we have ever 
seen; and above all, we had formed many true and 
pleasant friendships which we hope neither time nor 
eternity will ever destroy. But duty called us and 
we responded. 

The Australian people are a practical people. They 
do not show their appreciation of one’s worth in 
words only, but in deeds as well. Hence,their pub¬ 
lic servants are sent away across the waters \vith a 
practical token of their love and best wishes for 
them. They give their bon voyage a special empha¬ 
sis. This usually takes the form of a tea and public 
meeting in their honor. 


72 


OUR RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND 


78 


But what is a Colonial tea meeting? This question 
may be of interest to some of my American readers 
who have not had the privilege of visiting England 
and her Colonies, seeing that the Americans have 
not had much experience with tea meetings. The first 
and only tea meeting in which the American people 
have felt much interest was held in Boston harbor 
in 1778, when the English tea was thrown overboard. 

But I can assure my readers that the Australian 
tea meetings differ somewhat from a gathering we 
attended several years ago in a leading Baptist 
church in the state of Kansas, called a “Pink Tea.” 

Some of us who received complimentary tickets 
were full of wonder and anxiety as to the meaning of 
“Pink Tea. ” But our curiosity was soon satisfied 
when we entered the large church and found that the 
letter T,in various sizes and shapes,had been cut out 
of pink paper and stuck on almost every available 
object in the room, from the cup containing the tea 
(or coffee) up to the centre of the pastor’s back, 
while the rest of the proceedings consisted in an or¬ 
dinary church festival. We began to breathe more 
freely, and soon settled down to business. 

On attending a Colonial tea,you deposit your tick¬ 
et with the collector at the door. When you enter 
the hall the first things that attract your attention 
are the long tables extending the entire length of the 
hall, with broad promenade passages between them. 
These tables are dressed in clean, white linen,and or¬ 
namented with the flowers, ferns and various plants 
of the season. The chairs are all placed with their 


74 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


backs to the tables, and as the people enter the hall 
they are expected to select their own seats, except 
honored guests who are given seats at the head of the 
table or at a special table. This done, you can either 
be seated and spend the time in social conversation, 
or exercise yourself on the promenade. When tea 
is announced each arises, turns hk chair, and takes 
a seat at the table in the proper attitude for eating. 
Some one from the platform repeats these words: 

“Be present at our table, Lord, 

Be here and ev’rywhere adored; 

These mercies bless and grant that we 
May feast in Paradise with thee.” 

Then, as an expression of thanks, all stand and 
heartily sing them. 

Now begins the practical part. You begin with a 
cup of the best tea procurable, prepared to your 
taste, and a good healthy Colonial sandwich. The 
tables are also bounteously supplied with the princi¬ 
pal varieties that the confectioner’s art can produce. 
There are no plates, except those containing the 
food, and fingers are the only forks. Gentlemen 
bring the tea-pots to the tables, and ladies pour the 
tea. You retire at your leisure. The Englishman 
takes his time for eating, and likes to linger long at 
the table after closing his meal. He puts much of 
the social feature into his meals. He does not be¬ 
lieve in imitating the pig that gulps down its food 
with a few grunts and retires at once from the trough 
to wallowing in the mire. The English custom is 
commendable. Of course these teas vary somewhat 



OUR RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND 


75 


to suit the occasion, but the substance is usually the 
same. Tea being over, the tables removed and the 
large hall seated with chairs, a choice program, 
consisting of songs, recitations, readings, speeches, 
etc., is gone through with, the meeting being brought 
to a satisfactory close about ten o’clock. Such is a 
typical Colonial tea and public meeting, many of 
which we have greatly enjoyed. 

We left on the S. S. Jubilee on Thursday noon, 
March IB, 1890, friends waving us an affectionate 
good-bye from the wharf. We sailed right round 
the north end of New Zealand and down the eastern 
coast, calling at Auckland, Napier, Wellington and 
Christchurch. We were thirteen days in reaching 
Dunedin, and the voyage was uneventful. It was 
my privilege to preach to the passengers on the 
Lord’s Day, and we had concerts on two evenings, 
which helped us to pass the time pleasantly. The 
weather was delightful and the sea comparatively 
smooth. 

Early on the first morning after leaving Auckland 
we looked toward the coast, on our right, and saw a 
conical island standing out in the Bay of Plenty, 
called White Island. The island is formed by a vol¬ 
canic mountain rising out of deep water to the height 
of several hundred feet. A heavy cloud of smoke was 
hanging above the top of the mountain. There are 
also on the island boiling springs and geysers of acid 
waters, the vapors of which form large deposits of 
pure sulphur. How wonderful are the works of 
God! 


76 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Early on the morning of March 26, we entered the 
Heads and slowly steamed up the harbor to our land¬ 
ing place at Dunedin. From Port Chalmers, the 
seaport of Dunedin, up to the city is a distance of 
seven miles, and the two places are connected by a 
railway extending along the edge of the harbor. A 
chain of hills on both sides of the harbor also extends 
almost the entire distance, the sides of which are 
covered with grass, small cultivated fields and scrub. 

Dunedin, as its name indicates, is a city built on 
the hills. Most of the business part of it is situated 
immediately around the head of the harbor, and then 
the resident part rises terrace above terrace till the 
top of the tall hills is reached, and even over into 
the valleys beyond. I have before me as I write a 
book of 300 pages entitled “Picturesque Dunedin,” 
and I am sure this is an appropriate name for the 
city. It contains some magnificent business houses, 
hotels and churches In one part of the cable-tram 
line that mounts these hills there is, it is claimed, 
the steepest cable grade in the world. As the car 
starts down it you seem to be plunging over a high 
cliff, and timid ladies, unaccustomed to it, give a 
shriek and hold on for dear life. In this picturesque 
city we made our home for four years. 

Let the reader turn back to the beginning of this 
book and take a look at the writer’s picture, and see 
how much it resembles a Roman Catholic priest. 
Nevertheless,he was repeatedly mistaken in Dunedin 
for a priest. One day the supposed “father” was 
waiting for a tram near where the Bishop was lying 


OUR RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND 


77 


ill in his home. A strange gentleman approached 
and said: “How is the Bishop to-day?” I replied, 
“I do not know; I have seen no notice of his condi¬ 
tion in the papers.” “Have you been up to see 
him?” “I have not. ” “Are you a Catholic priest?” 
“I am not.” “Oh, I thought you were, and of course 
would know all about the Bishop’s health. ” Before 
we separated another strange gentleman approached, 
and the same dialogue followed. The first gentle¬ 
man laughed and said, “I thought he was a priest.” 
The gentlemen apologized, and we parted good 
friends. The Bishop has since died, but the “father” 
has survived the shock. 


LETTER XI. 


LEAVING NEW ZEALAND. 

Our departure from New Zealand in 1894 was 
mingled with feelings of sadness and joy. We were 
sorry to have to be called on to say good-bye to so 
many warm-hearted Christian workers and friends, 
and we were glad, on the other hand, that the time 
had come to continue our journey and feast our eyes 
on the interesting objects of the old world, which 
we had so long desired to see. But having made up 
our minds to go, a number of farewell meetings fol¬ 
lowed this decision; and in describing these meetings 
I think I can not do better than give brief extracts 
from the lengthy reports of them that were printed 
in the daily papers. The Evening Star of May 8 
says: 


FAREWELL TO MR. J. F. FLOYD. 

A scone and coffee supper, to bid farewell to Mr. 
J. F. Floyd and to welcome Mr. R. C. Gilmour, was 
held in the City Hall last night. Mr. R. Davidson 
presided, and there was a large attendance. 

The chairman opened the meeting with a few com¬ 
plimentary remarks, after which Mr. J. McIntosh 
said that it was his task, on behalf of the congrega¬ 
tion—the Disciples of Christ—to say good-bye to 
78 


LEAVING NEW ZEALAND 


79 


their dear Brother Floyd, who was going to take his 
departure for Palestine, the Holy Land, and other 
interesting places. That the Lord might bless him 
and bring him, his wife and son to their destination 
in safety and in health, was the prayer of the congre¬ 
gation. The speaker then presented Mr. Floyd with 
a book entitled “Ferns of New Zealand,’ 5 bearing 
the following inscription: “Presented to Mr. J. F. 
Floyd, on the eve of his departure from New Zealand, 
by the members of his Bible class in Dunedin, 2nd 
of May, 1894.” (Applause.) 

The choir then sang “God be with you till we meet 
again.” 

Mr. Floyd, who was received with loud cheering, 
stated that this was one of the occasions on which 
he found great difficulty in expressing his feelings 
and thanks. He asked those present to excuse him 
if they found that his address was hardly up to the 
mark. 

[The address is here omitted, and the report closes 
as follows:] 

He had been asked another question, and that was 
whether he intended to return to Dunedin. He did 
not know. He might return some day, but it de¬ 
pended very much upon circumstances. He some¬ 
times felt that his work was not quite finished in 
Dunedin, Under the circumstances it was utterly 
impossible for him to say all the good things he 
would have liked to say, but he hoped they would 
take the will for the deed, and continue to think of 
him as he would continue to think of them in the 
future. (Loud applause.) 

After the audience had been liberally supplied with 
refreshments, Mr. W. C. M’Nee extended a welcome 
to Mr. R. C. Gilmour, who afterwards briefly re¬ 
plied. 


80 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


An address was also given during the evening by 
the Rev. Thomas Harrington. Mr. Mackie and others 
contributed solos; Master W. Hunter played a violin 
solo; and the choir sang a number of selections. 

Later on another meeting was held, and on the 
morning of May 12 the Daily Times made the fol¬ 
lowing report of it: 

PRESENTATION TO MR. J. F. FLOYD. 

A complimentary social was tendered last evening 
by a number of friends to Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Floyd 
in the Zealandia Chambers. There was a large at¬ 
tendance, and Mr. R. C. Gilmour presided. Refresh¬ 
ments were provided by a number of ladies, and 
advantage was taken of the occasion to present Mr. 
Floyd with a handsomely illuminated address, purse 
of sovereigns, and an engrossed letter, as a mark of 
appreciation of his worth and work. Mrs. Floyd 
was also presented with a lady’s handsome bag, a 
music case, and an engrossed letter, with a number 
of other gifts. The presentation was made by Mr. 
Gilmour, who succeeds Mr. Floyd at the City Hall. 
Mr. Floyd made a feeling reply, expressing his 
gratitude to all members of the church and citizens 
who had contributed towards the handsome and val¬ 
uable gifts presented to his partner in life and to 
himself. Several songs were rendered during the 
evening, and a pleasant evening was brought to a 
close by the doxology. The following is a copy of 
the illuminated address which was presented to Mr. 
and Mrs. Floyd: 

u Dear Brother and Sister: —We, a few of your 
friends and sympathizers, desire to give you some 
practical token of the esteem in which you are held 
by us. During the four years you have labored in 
this city in the interests of the gospel of Christ, 



LEAVING NEW ZEALAND 


81 


your manner and conduct have been such as to com¬ 
mend themselves to our sympathies, and we regret 
that you have at last seen fit to sever that personal 
intercourse and fellowship that have bound us to¬ 
gether in bonds of Christian love. We pray God that 
wheresoever you may be called upon in His providence 
to labor you may be cheered in your work by the 
same counsel and influence which we have been 
pleased to bestow upon you Kindly accept the ac¬ 
companying gifts, which express inadequately the 
esteem and respect in which you are held by us. 
Signed—Jane Woollett, Margaret Sutherland, Rebecca 
Anderson, Alice Reid, Catherine Finlayson (Ladies’ 
Committee), on behalf of a long list of donors, of 
members of the City Hall Church, and friends, among 
whom are leading public men. Dunedin, May 11, 
1894.” 

One of the friends and liberal donors was the 
mayor of the city. The address, which was enclosed 
in a handsome frame, will always find a conspicuous 
place on the wall of our parlor or study. We pur¬ 
chased our through tickets from Thomas Cook & 
Son, of whom we will have more to say from time to 
time during the course of our journey. Most of our 
heavy baggage, including my library, I found it less 
trouble and expense to send as freight direct to Lon¬ 
don. Finally, at 8 o’clock on the afternoon of Fri¬ 
day, May 18, a large number of members of the 
church and friends assembled on the wharf and on 
the deck and in the saloon of our ship, S. S. Tara - 
wera , to say good-bye and to wish us a pleasant and 
safe voyage. Some tears were shed and many pleas¬ 
ant and helpful words were spoken, and as we quietly 
sailed down the harbor a whole forest of handkerchiefs 


82 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


were vigorously waving until first the wharf and 
then the city itself gradually vanished from our 
sight. Thus we took our leave of New Zealand. 


LETTER XII. 


FROM DUNEDIN TO MELBOURNE. 

That portion of the Southern Pacific Ocean sep¬ 
arating New Zealand from Australia, and over which 
it requires seven days for a first-class inter-colonial 
steamship to sail, was known to the civilized world 
and navigated by Europeans a long time before it 
had any specific name. But a few years ago the 
Geographical Society of Australasia met in solemn 
conference and gave this large body of water the 
name of the Tasman Sea. It is well to distinguish 
it by name from the rest of the world’s largest ocean, 
for it is evident that this particular part is anything 
but pacific in reality. It believes in sacrifice rather 
than mercy; its peculiar cross-currents and head¬ 
winds giving to the ship almost every motion known 
to the old sea captain. We were aware of the bad 
behavior of this sea,and hence were prepared for any 
reception it might give us. Our entrance to the sea 
from the Dunedin harbor was blessed with beautiful 
sunshine and a gentle breeze, but the rolling of the 
good ship, S. S. Tarawera , soon sent us below for 
the night. At 7:30 next morning we anchored in 
the Bluff Harbor at Cambelltown, which is situated 
at the southern end of the South Island, and is the 
first and last port of call for steamers running between 
83 


84 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Melbourne and New Zealand. It is a bleak place of 
little importance, except as a shipping point for the 
southern part of the island. Here our best deck 
chair decided to discontinue its tour around the 
world. It took legs and walked ashore without our 
knowledge or consent. It did not return. 

We sailed from the Bluff on Saturday evening, 
the same day of our arrival, and Sunday, Monday 
and Tuesday our ship was rolling, plunging and ca¬ 
pering like a playful animal. Now we were lifted to 
the top of a mountain wave, and then we sank down 
into the valley below; one minute the prow of the 
boat was pointing heavenward, and the next the stern 
was lifted out of the water, while the quick revolu¬ 
tions of the screw startled the timid passengers and 
set the ship to quivering in every part. Sunday passed 
without any religious service. We had taken on 
board at the Bluff a company of fine singers who 
had been touring New Zealand, but we had no song. 
The berths were well patronized; the stewards and 
stewardess were kept unusually busy, and sighs, 
moans and complaints constituted the order of the 
day. The liveliest passenger we had on board was 
a man who had become delirious through strong 
drink, and required two stewards to hold him in his 
bed most of the time. He was a sad wreck in Colo¬ 
nial high life. 

The announcement early on Wednesday morning 
that we had entered the Heads and were approach¬ 
ing the city of Hobart was a welcome one. We went 
on deck, and as we steamed slowly towards the wharf 



FROM DUNEDIN TO MELBOURNE 


85 


we had a fine view of the city, built on the banks of 
the river Derwent, and extending in horse-shoe 
shape around the head of the commodious harbor, 
and snow-capped Mount Wellington, lifting his head 
up 4,116 feet toward the zenith, forming the pictur¬ 
esque background. Hobart is the capital of Tas¬ 
mania, and is built on uneven ground, some of which 
is considerably elevated. It has some magnificent 
public buildings and an excellent system of electric 
street cars. The Government House, built of white 
freestone, the House of Parliament, with 9,000 vol¬ 
umes of books, the Town Hall and the Museum are 
the principal ones. It is connected with some of 
the smaller cities of the Colony by rail, and is regu¬ 
larly reached by splendid steamers from New Zealand, 
Sydney and Melbourne. Some of the large steam¬ 
ships from England also touch at this port. In con¬ 
sequence of its bracing climate, and being easy of ac¬ 
cess, Hobart is becoming quite a summer resort. It 
has a population of about 29,000. 

Mount Wellington is not a cone-shaped mountain 
as I had thought, but is a long ridge-like mountain 
with one end higher than the other, and forming a 
tableland on top. It is so near the bay that its base 
extends right down to the city limits. Heavy clouds 
were hanging about the mountain, and now and then 
one of these water-carriers would float over the city 
and drop a shower of rain. This mountain is almost 
exactly the antipodes of Mount Ben Nevis, in Scot¬ 
land, 4,406 feet high. A Meteorological Observatory 
has been established on the top of each of these 


86 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


mountains under the superintendence of the same 
scientific gentleman. Simultaneous observations 
are to be taken from both mountains, and it is be¬ 
lieved that the facts thus obtained from both sides 
of the world will furnish more accurate forecasts of 
the state of the weather than have been hitherto at¬ 
tained. 

Tasmania is an island lying between the southern 
end of New Zealand and Australia, and is separated 
from the latter by Bass Strait. It comprises a little 
over 26,000 square miles, and it is, therefore, about 
half the size of the state of Alabama. Its total pop¬ 
ulation is about 128,000, and it is a British Colony. 
By Australians and New Zealanders it is vulgarly 
called the u tight little island.” The black native 
population has entirely disappeared, the last one dy¬ 
ing in 1872. It is said to be a fine fruit country, 
and we can testify to the good quality of the beau¬ 
tiful apples we saw in the markets. While walking 
on the streets we met friends from Sydney, in whose 
company we spent a few pleasant hours. 

Our stay in Hobart was limited to eight hours. 
Before leaving the wharf, a man came on board with 
wild-cat, opossum and other Tasmanian skins for 
sale. At one time these animals were very numerous 
in the mountains of the Colony, and beautiful rugs 
are manufactured out of skins and sold at high prices. 
We purchased a sample. 

The remainder of the voyage between Hobart and 
Melbourne was devoid of special interest. We reached 
the latter city on Friday, May 25, at 2:80 p. m,, and 



FROM DUNEDIN TO MELBOURNE 


87 


were met at the wharf by friends who were awaiting 
our arrival, and who took us in charge during our 
short visit to the city. 



LETTER XIII. 


FROM MELBOURNE TO ADELAIDE. 

“Marvelous Melbourne” is undoubtedly a won¬ 
derful city. When the traveller remembers that a 
little more than fifty years ago there was no Mel¬ 
bourne, and then looks on the present city, he has 
good reason to be surprised at its rapid and solid 
growth. As our steamer slowly moved up the mouth 
of the muddy Yarra Yarra River, on the north bank 
of which the city is situated, we were not very favor¬ 
ably impressed with what we could see of Melbourne. 
It looked too flat and gloomy. But when we en¬ 
tered the fine business part of the city, our unfavora¬ 
ble impression gave place to one of admiration. Its 
parks and gardens are beautifully laid out, and its 
public buildings are magnificently executed. The 
principal streets run at right angles to one another, 
and they are long, broad, smooth and clean. 

Melbourne has one of the most perfect cable-tram 
systems we have ever seen. Indeed, I could write a 
book on this one city, but I must hasten on to other 
places, many of which will, no doubt, prove of more 
interest to my readers. 

We took our departure from Melbourne on Satur¬ 
day, May 26, at noon ; taking passage on the magnif- 

88 


FROM MELBOURNE TO ADELAIDE 


89 


icent steamer, Orotava , which was to be our home 
till we reached Egypt. Our passage to Adelaide 
proved a very pleasant one. Our ship dropped anchor 
on the following Monday at daylight, in Larger Bay, 
and a steam tender came out from the wharf bring¬ 
ing, among others, friends to meet us. We were 
taken ashore and driven to a hospitable home, where 
we stopped during the two days we were in the city. 

On the next day we were taken to the top of Mount 
Lofty, 2,400 feet high, and ten or twelve miles from 
the city, where we had a nice family picnic and ob¬ 
tained a fine view of the surrounding country. The 
drive was a delightful one, the road being smooth, 
and winding its way gracefully up the mountain side, 
and near the city taking us between vineyards, 
orange, fig, olive and almond trees. We saw the 
Devil’s Elbow, a bend in the steep part of the moun¬ 
tain road, which has been the scene of a number of 
serious accidents. Our host, who is a preacher and 
ought to know, said the devil was not satisfied by 
showing his elbow, for he sometimes also showed his 
hand in this country. If Adelaide has only seen his 
elbow and hand it has reason to be thankful. There 
are places where he seems to walk about exposing 
his w r hole person without the least fear. 

Adelaide is a pretty city, built of stone and brick 
in accordance with a municipal regulation, as a proof 
against fire, such houses also being cooler in this hot, 
sunshiny summer weather. Its suburbs are separated 
from the city proper by park-like reserves, which 
give a pleasing appearance to the surroundings. We 


90 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


much enjoyed a walk through the beautiful Botan¬ 
ical Gardens. In the evening I spoke in one of the 
principal churches to the Young People’s Endeavor 
Society, a large audience being present. 

Altogether, we were highly pleased with our visit 
to Adelaide. We would like to linger here longer; 
but our faces are set towards Jerusalem, and the time 
of our departure is at hand. Friends accompany us 
to our boat, the whistle sounds, we wave our hand¬ 
kerchiefs and again we are off. 


LETTER XIV. 


ON THE INDIAN OCEAN. 

On leaving Adelaide the line, “We are out on the 
ocean sailing,” was literally true. But the next 
verse, which says, “Homeward bound we sweetly 
glide,” needed to be considerably modified till our 
head-wind ceased and the sea became smoother. 

From Port Adelaide we sailed right out into the 
great Australian Bight, and for three days and four 
nights our boat was see-sawing and rolling on these 
turbulent waters. On the second day out the tables 
were cleared three times of much of their contents 
while the stewards were preparing our dinner, and 
many of the passengers kept their beds. 

We saw no land till we reached Albany, in Western 
Australia, the first and last port of call on the 
Australian continent for the boats on this line. Be¬ 
fore our arrival, I asked an officer what there was to 
see in Albany. His reply was: “Sand and rocks.” 
This I found to be about correct. The town has a 
population of about twelve hundred, and is of little 
importance, except to the shipping interests. It is 
connected by rail with Perth, the capital of Western 
Australia, two hundred and sixteen miles away. It 
91 


92 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


has a good harbor, and the water approaching the 
city is called King George Sound. There are no 
beaches around here worth the name, the rocks, for 
the most part, sloping abruptly into the deep water. 

On rounding the Cape from Albany we entered the 
Indian Ocean and pointed the bow of our ship to¬ 
wards Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, distant about 
8,800 miles, We now settled down properly to life 
on board ship, and we were rather pleased with our 
new surroundings. Our ship was one of the largest 
running on the Oriental and Peninsular lines, and 
so exceedingly clean that there was a complete ab¬ 
sence of all offensive smell such as is too often experi¬ 
enced on boats. We had spacious promenade decks, 
large, well-ventilated and beautifully upholstered 
dining saloons, hot and cold salt and fresh water 
baths, and electric light in every part of the ship, 
which, in the state-rooms, can be turned on and off 
by the passengers at will. Our bill of fare was all 
that could be desired, comprising the good and sub¬ 
stantial things usually found in first-class hotels, 
from the soups right down to ice-cream, fruits and 
nuts. 

We sailed on and on, under a clear sky and over 
a smooth sea—sometimes as smooth as a lake and 
glossy in appearance—for ten days, with little to 
break the monotony, except what the passengers and 
crew devised. Every day at 11 a. m. we had music 
on deck for an hour by a band of string and wind 
instruments belonging to the ship. Four evenings 
we had creditable concerts. Two nights there was 


ON THE INDIAN OCEAN 


93 


dancing by those who cared to indulge in that sort 
of amusement. A number of days the gentlemen 
played cricket on deck. Several times there were 
sports,including races, jumping, tug of war, and such 
like. Almost daily we watched the fire drill, by 
the ship’s crew. When the bell sounded the alarm 
the men came swarming out of all parts of the ship, 
bringing blankets, etc., with them, some taking 
up their positions at the boats on deck and others set¬ 
ting the pumps in motion, which sent the water 
through the hose high in the air, while the steward¬ 
esses took up their positions about the passages and 
doors of the saloon to quiet the nervous women and 
children. The rest of the time was mainly consumed 
in reading, writing, conversation and promenading. 
We saw no sea monsters, but several times we saw 
schools of flying fish,and watched with interest some 
of them shoot out of the water to clear the track of 
our vessel, fly a couple of hundred yards with great 
rapidity, and suddenly drop out of sight. One of 
these fish managed to get on our deck, and I secured 
one of its wings, pressed it and have brought it home 
for exhibition. It is simply a big fin of a small fish 
used as a wing. On Sundays the captain conducted 
Church of England service in the saloon at 11 a. m. 
(after dancing most of Saturday night), and it fell 
to my lot to conduct evangelistic services on Sunday 
evenings at half-past seven. There was a Church of 
England clergyman from Ceylon on board; but he 
declined to join me in any sort of service, and the 
captain did not ask him to assist in the morning 


94 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


service. But when he saw that the evening meetings 
proved a great success, even while he was walking 
the deck, he proposed to “take charge” of them. 
But the Church of England people, several of whom 
were on board, joined the other passengers in declin¬ 
ing to have the services interfered with. In fact, a 
High Churchman played the piano while the congre¬ 
gation joined in singing Sankey’s songs. We also 
had on board another very religious gentleman from 
Australia. He refused to join in any of the innocent 
sports, and he thought all the passengers who en¬ 
gaged in jumping were jumping straight to hell. 
With him the tug of war was a contest between de¬ 
mons over which the angels were weeping. He usu¬ 
ally sat by himself on some secluded part of the deck 
with his Bible in his hand. He was never seen to 
smile during the whole voyage, and he wore a face 
as long as the face of a Kentucky mule in the civil 
war. Seriously, I believe there is a difference be¬ 
tween piety and longfacedness. I am satisfied with 
the former without the latter. On board ship the 
limits of true refinement and pure religion should 
never be transcended, but all long faces should be 
charged for the extra amount of space they occupy. 

As we entered the tropics we felt the heat consid¬ 
erably, and the crew and passengers donned their 
white costumes. The large fans in the dining saloons, 
moved by steam power, were also set in motion. 

At 10 p. m., on June 11, we crossed the equator, 
thus passing into the Northern Hemisphere. We 
could not see the line, not even with our glasses (this 


ON THE INDIAN OCEAN 


95 


is a joke). But I dipped up here a small bottle of 
water, and have brought it home with me as a re¬ 
minder of having crossed the line. At this point the 
moon was directly over our heads, and we had some 
very beautiful sunsets, the clouds streaked with scar¬ 
let taking the forms of trees, animals, etc., as the 
sun sank below the horizon. We were looking for¬ 
ward to a delightful break in our long voyage, and 
were all making our arrangements to spend a day 
ashore. Finally, Colombo came in sight. 


LETTER XV. 


IN COLOMBO, CEYLON. 

After a ten days’ sea voyage under a tropical sun, 
the sight of land is very welcome, and the prospect 
of a day ashore “lends enchantment to the view.” 
The approach to Colombo is fine. First the low 
coast, fringed with the graceful cocoanut palms, is 
visible; and then the flag-staff, the forts, the spires 
of some of the principal churches, and finally the 
city itself come into view. 

It was on Wednesday, June 18, at 9:80 a. m., we 
rounded the magnificent breakwater, which cost more 
than $8,500,000, and dropped anchor in the harbor, 
comprising some 500 acres of water, sheltered from 
the southwest monsoon. What a scene! The whole 
harbor seemed alive with floating humanity. In¬ 
stantly hundreds of boats of various sizes and curi¬ 
ous patterns, from three straight logs tied together 
up - to the coal hulks, approached us from all direc¬ 
tions, pushing and colliding as they came; while 
their occupants were pulling, singing and shouting 
as though each one’s life depended on his reaching 
us first. A few minutes later the sides and decks of 
our ship were literally swarming with the almost 

96 


IN COLOMBO, CEYLON 


97 


nude natives, bringing tropical fruits, shells, and 
various other articles for sale to the passengers. It 
was an animated and interesting scene, never to be 
forgotten. Everything was so strange—so different 
from what we had been accustomed to see. We 
seemed to be approaching a new world. But the next 
thing was to get ashore. We could take our choice 
between a native outrigger canoe, a jolly boat, pro¬ 
tected with beautiful awnings, or one of the steam 
launches. We chose the last-named, and amidst the 
din of the natives, literally scrambled over a num¬ 
ber of smaller boats into our launch. It was every 
man for himself here; and it also came very near 
being every lady for herself. It was almost as bad 
as a game of football played by students of rival col¬ 
leges. We took a long breath, our little steamer gave 
a sharp whistle, and we were off for the shore. 

We engaged an Indian guide who could speak Eng¬ 
lish fairly well, and a couple of two-horse carriages 
for our little party of six, and we started out to see 
the sights. The day was clear, and the sun, which 
was almost directly over us at noon, was hot. In 
some of the large European shops, and some of the 
native ones, great fans, in long rows, swinging from 
the ceiling, were kept constantly in motion by natives 
employed for that purpose. Yet toward evening it 
was pleasant driving in the shade of the trees. 

The city of Colombo covers an area—excluding the 
large lake around which much of the city is built— 
about ten miles square, and has a population of some 
128,000, including a good sprinkling of Europeans. 


98 OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 

The streets are broad and well made, but in many 
places have no sidewalks, the people as well as the 
conveyances occupying the full width of the street. 
The streets were lined with wonderful trees of great 
variety, clothed in all the richness peculiar to the 
tropics; and the cocoanut palms, banana trees, ever¬ 
green shrubs and fragrant flowers, which abound 
everywhere, looked very beautiful and refreshing. 
We drove through the principal streets, on either side 
of which were native huts and bazaars interspersed 
with European bungalows and business houses. 
Jinrickshas and hackeries were running in every 
direction, either carrying some one or soliciting 
patronage. A jinricksha is a very light two-wheeled 
conveyance, with a movable top, drawn by a cooly 
between the shafts. We saw many of these poor 
coolies running with all their might through the 
streets with the perspiration streaming off their nude 
bodies, while behind them, in flowing Oriental robes, 
sat a great chunk of heathen flesh,urging on what he 
evidently considered his beast of burden. It seems 
to me that no person with a conscience can ride behind 
his fellow-creature in the shafts; and as we had a 
little conscience left, we declined to get into a jin¬ 
ricksha. We left these conveyances to our long¬ 
faced passengers, some of whom we saw riding about 
in them with much satisfaction. A hackery is a 
two-wheeled, springless cart, drawn by a little brown 
buffalo about three feet high, without horns, and 
having a large hump. 

When we stopped a moment the nude natives 



MAIN STREET IN COLOMBO, CEYLON. 














IN COLOMBO, CEYLON 


99 


crowded around us to beg, and to steal if they had 
a chance. I call them nude, for some of these people 
wear nothing at all, except the hair on their heads, 
and that uncombed; while a fig leaf each would 
suffice to clothe many of the rest of them After a 
couple of hours of this experience Master Trotter 
said, “Papa, let us go back to the boat X am tired 
looking at these naked people.” We visited the 
cinnamon gardens, which have been immortalized by 
Bishop Heber’s well-known stanza: “What tho’ 
the spicy breezes blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle,” and 
we brought away sample branches of the cinnamon 
trees with us. 

When you break a branch from a cinnamon tree or 
crush the leaves you may smell the spice But in 
some parts of Colombo you will meet with anything 
but “spicy breezes.” Indeed, we met with some 
breezes which we thought might have been improved 
by being spiced. But in traveling around the world 
one’s nose must learn not to be very critical. 

We spent some time in the principal Buddhist 
temple, where we saw a reclining image of Buddha 
in beautiful white stone, twenty-seven feet long 
The walls of the temple are very tastefully orna¬ 
mented with frescoes, depicting scenes in the history 
of Buddha; one of the most interesting representa¬ 
tions being the great victory of Buddha over the 
devils. We saw now and then the curious and beau¬ 
tiful banyan tree, which is sacred to these people. 
We saw women by the lake washing clothes by dip¬ 
ping them in the cold water and beating them over 


100 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


a large stone. We also visited the wonderful fruit 
markets, the museum and other objects of special 
interest about the strange city. While in the fruit 
markets we bought a large basket and filled it with 
choice tropical fruits Our guide called a native 
policeman to protect us against thieves while we 
made our purchases. While in the museum we left 
our driver with the carriage at the door to guard our 
basket. When we returned a quantity of the fruit 
was missing. The driver said he knew nothing about 
the missing fruit, and the guide said the driver was 
perfectly honest! When our carriage would stop a 
moment, the brown urchins, who had picked up a few 
words of English, would lay their hands on their 
stomachs and say, “Me hungry, no mamma, no 
papa.” We referred them to our driver for fruit. 
We took dinner at a native hotel, where not a word 
of English was spoken. They brought us three kinds 
of meat, and we set to eating and discussing it, but 
as much doubt was raised as to what we were really 
eating, the whole company pushed their plates aside, 
and we finished the meal on fruits and iced lemonade. 
Besides some good native hotels, there are some mag¬ 
nificent European hotels and business houses in the 
city. 

The native barber shops are a curiosity. Two men 
sit on the naked ground facing each other, with their 
feet and legs doubled up under them. One of these 
is the barber, the other is the barbarized, and the 
process is barbarous The barber looks his customer 
straight in the face, holds him by the chin and de- 




IN COLOMBO, CEYLON 


101 


liberately proceeds to chop off his beard with a dull 
substitute for a razor. The shop looks more like a 
chicken house with one side knocked out of it. I 
would rather take a Nazarite vow than be shaved 
in these shops. 

Ceylon lies in the Indian Ocean a little north of 
the equator, and is under British rule. The island 
is 267 miles long and 140 miles wide, and contains 
an area of about 24,700 square miles. Its highest 
mountain is 8,269 feet above the level of the sea. and 
its longest river is 150 miles in length. The island 
is very beautiful and interesting. 

The national religion of the Singhalese is Bud¬ 
dhism, which claims ninety-one per cent of the popu¬ 
lation. Hinduism and Mohammedanism also claim 
large numbers of the people. 

The Roman Catholic, Church of England, Presby¬ 
terian, Methodist and Baptist churches and the Sal¬ 
vation Army are all represented in Colombo, some 
of them having a strong footing. The missionaries 
have done and are doing good work in Colombo, and 
in other parts of the island 

But our time is up, and we must return to our 
boat. We paid our guide and released him. The 
total cost of his services and the two carriages with 
their drivers for the greater part of the day, was 
$2.50. We -were thoroughly satisfied. We took our 
leave of the shores of Ceylon a happy company. 


LETTER XVI. 


ON THE RED SEA. 

On leaving Colombo we headed toward the Red 
Sea, and our good ship was eight days steaming the 
distance between the two places. The monsoon 
swept down unmercifully on us much of the way; 
but our ship held steadily on her course, plowing 
through the troubled waters, while the mountain 
waves broke over her upper decks, and tossed the 
spray clear over her great funnels Wonderful is 
man’s power over the angry sea! 

Sometimes the strong wind would lift the spray 
high from the crest of the huge waves, and the suu, 
shining through it, would form a small momentary 
rainbow. When we could find a safe standing-place 
on deck, we watched with much interest these beau¬ 
tiful rainbows. How wonderful are God’s works! 
To us the ocean in its ever-changing phases, whether 
wild or calm, is a source of perpetual fascination. 

On the sixth day we were running close beside the 
island of Socotra, eighty-two miles long and twenty 
wide, with bold and rugged coasts, mostly barren 
interior, and inhabited by a few Arab and English 
families, which sheltered us much from the wind.. 
Two days later we sailed very smoothly over the Gulf 

of Aden, with a gentle breeze from the shores of 
102 





ON THE RED SEA 


108 


Africa to temper the heat sufficiently to make it 
bearable. In the evening, after the sun had ceased 
to shine, and the moon and stars were illuminating 
the heavens, we stepped to the port side of our ship 
and took our last look at the Southern Cross; and 
then passed to the starboard side and gazed at the 
North Star for the first time in nine years. It seemed 
like an old friend whom we desired to greet pleas¬ 
antly and accept as our polar guide in the Northern 
Hemisphere. Though we had not seen it for so long 
a time, we knew just where to find it. All Christians 
should be as true to their places in the spiritual firma¬ 
ment, as steady lights and as faithful guides, as 
this little star is in filling its place in the material 
heavens. 

We passed out of the Indian Ocean into the Red 
Sea through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which is 
fourteen miles wide, and divided by Perim Island, 
with high, steep peaks, making the southwestern 
channel, through which we passed, only ten miles 
across. To our left, on a gravelly hill near the shore, 
stood the lighthouse and the British fort. On the 
right were to be seen the rugged shores and sandy 
plains of Arabia. We expected to be very nearly 
roasted on the Red Sea. We were aware that passen¬ 
gers over it have died from the effects of the terrible 
heat experienced, and we were preparing for the or¬ 
deal days beforehand. We were agreeably disap¬ 
pointed. Nature seemed to specially favor us, for we 
had a nice refreshing head-wind, and the highest 
register of the thermometer in the cabin after sunset 



104 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


was 92 degrees. In the absence of this wind,which is 
only occasionally experienced, there are few hotter 
places on this earth during the summer months. 

If there is one place on earth more than another 
where a person enjoys eating ice-cream it is probably 
on the Red Sea on a summer’s day. Our chief stew¬ 
ard seemed to understand this fact, and hence his 
supply of the cooling cream greatly pleased us. We 
also spent a Lord’s Day on the Red Sea; and as I 
spoke to the people in our religious service of the 
miraculous passage of Israel through the waters near 
the head of this sea, we seemed to enter into a reali¬ 
zation of the fact as never before. 

The Red Sea is 1,200 miles long, and 180 miles 
wide at the widest point; and we were nearly four 
days in sailing through it from end to end. It has 
numerous small islands. Soon after our entrance into 
it, we passed on our starboard side twelve of these 
islands, called The Twelve Apostles, standing like 
soldiers in line of battle, facing the African coast, 
separated from one another by about a mile of sea. 
“Enormous coral reefs run along the Arabian coast 
in broken lines, parallel to the shore, but not con¬ 
nected with it. They usually rise out of deep water 
to within a few feet of the surface; and a navigable 
channel of from two to three miles in width, in 
which the water is always calm, extends between 
them and the land.” There are also extensive coral 
reefs in other parts of the sea, and beautiful shells 
from it are exposed for sale in Cairo and other like 
places. The northern part of the sea divides into 



ON THE RED SEA 


105 


two gulfs, those of Suez and Akaba; and the former, 
over which we sailed, is 170 miles long, with an av¬ 
erage width of thirty miles. The name Red Sea is 
of doubtful origin. Some scholars think it took its 
name from the limestones of a rich reddish-brown 
color seen along the cliffs. The water itself, instead 
of being red, is a beautiful, clear greenish-blue. I 
secured a bottle of it. Since entering the sea, some 
of our passengers have been trying to keep cool by 
moving their beds of nights from their cabins to the 
saloons and decks. The heat is particularly hard on 
our whisky and beer guzzlers; the rest of us suffer 
but little. 

We find much interest and pleasure in watching 
the numerous ships going to and fro over this great 
world’s thoroughfare. About half-way along on the 
eastern shore of the Red Sea is the Arabian town of 
Jiddah, also written Djiddah; but our boat did not 
go near enough to give us a sight of it. The town 
is the landing place of the pilgrims on their way to 
Mecca, which is about forty-five miles away. It is 
estimated that the average number of pilgrims that 
land here annually is about 40,000. We saw ships 
crowded with these pilgrims returning from their 
holy city. 


LETTER XVII. 


Israel’s passage through the red sea. 

We are in the land of the Pharaohs, and are touch¬ 
ing the borders of sacred history. We reached Suez 
on Monday morning, June 25, at 10 o’clock, and 
dropped anchor in plain view of the town. We had 
a splendid night’s rest, the air being refreshingly 
cool and the sea remarkably smooth. We arose at 
four o’clock and turned our glasses towards the east, 
hoping to catch a glimpse of Mount Sinai, which at 
times is plainly visible from a ship’s deck on this sea. 
We were disappointed, the haze about the tops of 
the intervening hills obscuring our view. But we 
saw a beautiful sunrise, the sun shooting up sud¬ 
denly from behind the Arabian mountains like a 
great ball of fire, and moving majestically on his 
course. 

We next turned our attention to the place of 
Israel’s crossing and the destruction of the Egyptian 
hosts; and we obtained a most excellent view from 
both sides of our ship. We have no doubt that this 
crossing is correctly located by many a few miles 
south of the present head of the sea, and in sight 
of the new town which has sprung up near the en¬ 
trance to the Suez Canal. On our left, we could see 

106 



Israel’s passage through the red sea 107 


distinctly where two mountain ranges, running par¬ 
allel to the sea, meet, leaving a gap between them 
through which Israel could pass; and beginning at 
the. mouth of this gap, there is spread out a beauti¬ 
ful beach some two miles wide and several miles long, 
sloping gently down to the water. On this beach, 
no doubt, Israel camped “by the sea,” and thus be¬ 
came “entangled in the land.” Here the sea is 
about eight miles across and sufficiently deep for the 
waters to stand up as a “congealed wall unto them 
on their right hand and on their left ” On our right, 
opposite this camping place, is seen the beautiful 
oasis known as The Fountains of Moses, situated on 
a sandy plain a mile from the seashore. Here the 
hosts of Israel could easily land, refresh themselves 
with an abundance of water, and witness the over¬ 
throw of the Egyptians in the depths of the sea At 
this point the land and the Book seem to agree in 
every detail; but from a close observation from this 
place along the canal all the way to Ismailia we are 
fully convinced that no other place on this line for 
the crossing for Israel will at all meet the require¬ 
ments of the Scriptures, and the devout Christian 
can accept no theory which takes no account of the 
inspired record, or flatly contradicts it. 

It is probably true, as Sir J. W. Dawson and others 
have ably argued from a geological point of view, that 
the Red Sea at one time did extend considerably 
farther north than its present position; but it is not 
clear that this was the case at the time of Israel’s 
crossing it. Indeed, as has been very clearly shown 


108 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


by Professor A. H. Sayce, in his recent book, enti¬ 
tled “The Higher Criticism and the Monuments,” a 
canal already existed as far back as the sojourn of 
Israel in Egpyt, through which ships could pass from 
the Mediterranean to the Red Sea; and the mouth of 
this canal, built by the Pharaohs, and re-opened by 
Darius, is to be seen even now close to the town of 
Suez, thus showing that the Red Sea at the time of 
Israel’s departure from Goshen, occupied about its 
present position. Any theory, therefore, supported 
by the supposed extension of the sea farther north¬ 
ward at the time of the passage of Israel can not be 
accepted. I never had many doubts respecting the 
place of Israel’s crossing the Red Sea, and alJ these 
have been completely set at rest by my personal ob¬ 
servations along the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal, 
coupled with a careful review of the whole subject. 
The trouble with some critics is, they assume the 
Bible statements to be untrue, and then they set to 
work to prove their own theories true. But true 
criticism allows the Bible to be true till proved false, 
and while it remains true all theories must be tested 
by its facts. 

While in the Suez Bay we were surrounded by 
small Arab boats, and some jugglers from among 
their occupants came on board and performed some 
astonishing feats. One of these grave-looking Arabs 
sat flat down on the deck, spread his handkerchief 
on the clean floor, put his hands under the handker¬ 
chief and mumbled something in Arabic. He re¬ 
moved the handkerchief and, lo! a beautiful mango 




Israel’s passage through the red sea 109 


plant stood before you. He repeated the process and 
the plant became a tree with dirt, roots, trunk, 
branches, leaves and fruit. He held up a chicken 
for your inspection, then he appeared to break it in 
two, when two chickens ran off on deck He would 
hand you a long white scarf and tell you to cut it 
into two pieces with your knife Then he took the 
two pieces, folded them together, set the two ends 
on fire, extinguished the fire and straightened out 
the scarf, and no sign of the knife or fire could be 
seen upon it. He took two persons five paces apart, 
placed a piece of money in the hand of one and told 
both to close their hands tight. He then told them 
to open their hands when the money had disappeared 
from the hand in which it had been placed and was 
found in the hand of the other person. How were 
these and other equally strange things done? The 
passengers on whom he operated, with scores uf others 
looking on, were bent on detecting the secret of his 
tricks; but they utterly failed. 

• Our ship put on an additional rudder, and arranged 
her powerful search-light, and at twelve noon we 
weighed anchor and steamed into the famous Suez 
canal, which is nearly one hundred miles long from 
sea to sea from two hundred to three hundred feet 
wide at the top, and seventy-two feet at the bottom, 
and twenty-six feet deep, and winding its way like a 
serpent through the sandy plain between the two seas. 
Sand, sand, sand, everywhere, with a few loose camels 
strolling about at leisure, and the glaring sun that 
made us adjust our green spectacles as a protection 



110 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


to our eyes. Once our great boat stuck on the sand, 
but with skillful management she was soon floated 
off, and we moved on slowly, passing ugly dredges 
at short intervals, which are constantly at work 
keeping the canal in order. We increased our speed 
as we sailed through the Bitter Lakes; and finally 
at 7 p. m. we entered Lake Timsah, where we disem¬ 
barked for our trip through Egypt A tender came 
out from the wharf with an agent and interpreter 
to meet us. As our little boat steamed away the 
decks of the great ship were lined with the passengers 
who waved us a kindly good-bye. Thus we took our 
final leave of Her Majesty’s magnificent S. S. Oro- 
tava. 


LETTER XVIII. 


FROM ISMAILIA TO CAIRO. 

On landing atlsmailia we were near to, if, indeed, 
not exactly in, the land of Goshen; and since the 
departure of Israel, the frogs have also come up to 
view this goodly spot. In the evening we saw one 
hopping through the reception room of our hotel, and 
all night their croaking in the lake near by reminded 
us of the second plague. Lake Timsah, through which 
the Suez Canal passes, is a beautiful sheet of water, 
nine miles in circumference. Timsah is an Arabic 
word, meaning crocodile. But the crocodiles have 
all disappeared, and a person can bathe anywhere in 
the lake with perfect safety. On the northwestern 
shore of this lake stands the town of Ismailia, which 
was mainly built up during the construction of the 
canal. It has a population of between four and five 
thousand, comprising French, Greek and Arab quar¬ 
ters. Its broad macadamized streets and regular 
squares are bordered with shade trees, which afford 
protection from the sun and impart a pleasing ap¬ 
pearance to the town. Around the wharf, at the foot 
of the principal street, there is lying quite a fleet 
of Arab boats and small steam launches, while a sig¬ 
nal station stands on the shore a few paces away. 
Here the agent of Thomas Cook & Son, who had 



112 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


landed ns from our steamer, assisted us to pass 
through the small Custom House, conducted us to 
the Victoria, a French hotel, and put us into very 
pleasant quarters. The broad balcony, on to which 
the door of our room opened, overlooked a court em¬ 
bowered in trees, shrubs and vines, laden with beau¬ 
tiful flowers and tropical fruits. 

In the morning,accompanied by a guide, we took a 
stroll through the town and saw the temporary home 
of the late M. de Lesseps during the building of the 
canal. We also saw a villa of the Khedive and 
walked through its beautiful gardens; and examined 
a collection of ancient monuments standing in the 
public square, having been brought from the Scrip¬ 
ture Pithom about twelve miles away. In this inter¬ 
esting collection are three sitting figures in Syene 
granite a little larger than life. The central one is 
Rameses II., and the gods Ra and Turn sit at either 
side. “There is also a monumental stone of the same 
granite, inscribed with the record of the building of 
the temple, a monolithic sanctuary and sphinx, cut 
in the brown quartzite of Jebel Ahmar, and two 
large sphinxes in the porphyritic diorite of Assouan. 
All these objects are in the best style of the art of 
the nineteenth dynasty, and, as set up in one of the 
chief cities of Goshen, were badges of the subjection 
of the Hebrews to the king and his gods.” 

During this walk we had our first experience with 
the Egyptian donkey boys, who crowded around us, 
extolled the merits of their respective donkeys, and 
begged us to ride. We returned to our hotel, had a 



FROM ISMAILIA TO CAIRO 


118 


delightful bath in the lake and gathered some nice 
shells from the waters. At noon we took our lunch, 
and at 1:25 p. m. we started on our journey to 
Cairo, which is about ninety-nine miles distant. 
We secured a compartment to ourselves, purchased 
a supply of delicious melons, and our train went 
puffing through the land of Goshen. We can now 
understand better than ever before why the children 
of Israel in the wilderness remembered and longed 
for the melons of Egypt. We noted fifteen stations 
along the line, Zagazig and one or two others being 
towns of considerable importance. 

It is now generally understood that the Scripture 
Goshen comprises a narrow valley of cultivated soil, 
with desert on both sides, about eighty miles long, 
beginning northeast of Cairo, and extending east¬ 
ward nearly as far as Ismailia. This valley is now 
one of the most beautiful districts in Egypt, the fer¬ 
tile land being covered with luxuriant crops, numer¬ 
ous sheep and cattle, large groves of date-pal 1113 and 
populous villages. We saw one herd containing 
probably four hundred camels, grazing; and on the 
back of one, going eastward, we counted five women 
and a number of small children. On the back of 
donkeys we saw men riding who were larger than the 
donkeys. When our train stopped at a station Egyp- 
tian girls came alongside the windows with earthen 
jugs on their heads, saying, u Moyeh ,” the Arab word 
for water, which they hoped to sell to the passen¬ 
gers, as this train did not carry drinking water. At 
several stations we saw beautiful flower-beds near 
the homes of the people. 


114 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Our first station out from Ismailia wasMashama; 
and here is the site of the Scripture Pithom, which 
is distinctly visible from the railway, and “presents 
the remains of fortifications and extensive granaries 
of crude bricks.” Here is where the children of 
Israel bent their backs under the cruel bondage of 
the Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph” and under the 
increasing burdens of the task-masters Here are to 
be seen the bricks the Israelites made and the remains 
of the city and temples they built as unmistakable 
monuments of the truthfulness cf the Scripture nar¬ 
rative respecting God’s chosen people in Egypt. It 
was difficult for us to realize that we were actually 
in the land of Goshen and on the site of one of the 
“treasure-cities.” Hence as we were hurried along 
through this section of country, our minds were full 
of the passing events of sacred history, and this, 
coupled with the strange scenes by which We were 
surrounded, made our trip a very enjoyable one. We 
reached Cairo at 5:80 p. m , and on approaching the 
city we had from the car window our first view of 
the Gizeh Pyramids, of which we will speak in a sub¬ 
sequent letter. 


LETTER XIX. 


OFF TO THE PYRAMIDS. 

Arriving at the Egyptian capital, and being settled 
in our rooms, we first- mingled with the curious crowds 
on the streets, and then sat on the balcony of our 
hotel, four stories up, till late in the night, enjoying 
the refreshing air and looking down on the hetero¬ 
geneous mass of moving humanity. Yonder, across 
the Nile, we thought, stands one of the wonders of 
the ancient world; and here at our feet is a wonder 
of the modern world. All Cairo seems to turn out 
in the evening, and the walks, streets and park-like 
reserves are thronged with people till the middle of 
the night. A number of brown-back crows came and 
took up their nocturnal abode in the branches of the 
trees bordering the broad sidewalks opposite us, and 
we finally retired to enjoy sweet rest. 

According to arrangement, at 8 o’clock next morn¬ 
ing a carriage, containing a competent guide, called 
at our hotel door; we stepped into it and were off 
to the Pyramids of Gizeh. These pyramids are 
situated eight miles west of Cairo, on a low rocky 
plateau at the edge of the Libyan Desert, above the 
highest water mark; and,hence,like all the pyramids 
115 



116 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


along its banks, are on the western side of the Nile. 
Our drive took us through some of the best of the 
European parts of the city, down to the beautiful 
and substantial iron bridge 1,260 feet long, which 
spans the Nile, and of which the people are rightly 
proud. Just before reaching the bridge the pyra¬ 
mids came into view, and, except when hid by the 
intervening tree-tops, remained visible the rest of 
the way. At first sight they were disappointing, 
appearing small, and too steep and smooth to be 
ascended; but the nearer we came to them the grand¬ 
er they loomed up, till, finally, when we stood at 
their base, we felt that their grandeur could scarcely 
be realized or overestimated. Crossing the bridge we 
drove for some distance along the bank of the river, 
and then leaving the river we went due west till the 
pyramids were reached. The road, the entire dis¬ 
tance, is elevated, broad, macadamized, and bordered 
with acacia trees, whose branches meet overhead, 
thus forming a shaded avenue. The road was con¬ 
structed by the Khedive in 1868 for the Prince of 
Wales and party, the stone for the purpose being 
taken from the pyramids Along most of the route, 
on both sides of the road, were numerous plots of 
ground covered with melons, interspersed with small 
fields of Indian corn approaching maturity; and 
here and there were to be seen half-nude peasants 
working the ground with primitive-looking imple¬ 
ments, or standing guard over their property. 

At the base of the Great Pyramid we rested in a 
small stone house built for the purpose, refreshed 







PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. GREAT PYRAMID TO THE LEFT. 









OFF TO THE PYRAMIDS 


117 


ourselves on a delicious melon, contracted with the 
sheikh of the Arab village near by for nine of his 
men (three for each of us) to assist us, and then we 
began the ascent. “Hurrah 1” shouted the Arabs, 
“who can reach the top first?” It was exciting, 
laborious and somewhat ludicrous work. The mode 
of procedure is this, namely: Two sure-footed Arabs 
leap upon the step above you, and one takes each of 
your hands, while the third one stands behind you 
to push as the other two pull. This process is re¬ 
peated till the top is reached. Let our readers step 
from the floor on to the mantel or the bureau about 
160 times, and they will have some idea of what it 
is to climb this pyramid. But up, up, we went, with 
short pauses at intervals, till the platform, about 
thirty feet square at the summit, was reached. When 
Mrs. Trotter and Master John touched the pole erect¬ 
ed in the center of this square, the Arabs gave a 
shout of triumph, and then, like so many geese,chat¬ 
tered to our annoyance. These Arabs take great 
delight in their work and are proud of the noted 
names they have adopted. One of them was called 
Abraham, another Isaac, and still another Jacob. 
They seemed to know an American at sight, and they 
had all heard of Mark Twain. The only lady of our 
party of three was specially honored with the assist¬ 
ance of Abraham; and I am of the opinion that on 
the way to the top of the pyramid Abraham managed 
to get a little extra bakhshish in exchange for Egyp¬ 
tian relics with the understanding that he was to 
take up his charge with as much ease and grace as 


118 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


could be commanded under the circumstances. These 
athletic fellows make good use of the few simple 
words of English they have learned. 

The discharge of the time-gun in the city reminded 
us that it was exactly twelve o’clock noon, June 27, 
1894. With a sweep of the field glass, there was 
spread out before us the most magnificent and inter¬ 
esting view on w T hich we had ever gazed. Above was 
the cloudless sky, through which the brilliant rays 
of the sun fell on us; beneath us stood one of the 
marvels of ancient and modern time; to the west was 
the Libyan Desert stretching its yellow sand as far 
as the eye could see; to the east was Cairo with its 
suburbs extending itself among the green trees and 
pointing its domes and minarets heavenward; and 
beginning at the far south and continuing towards 
the north till lost in the dim distance, lay the rich 
valley dotted with groves, fields and villages, and 
which, during the inundation, becomes a vast lake, 
and through this valley was winding the majestic 
Nile, full of historic associations, finally mingling 
it waters with those of the Mediterranean Sea. Also 
a few miles to the south, on the western bank of the 
Nile, could be plainly seen the cluster of pyramids 
about the ruins of ancient Memphis. 

After spending some time with these charming 


scenes, we descended to within forty-eight feet of 
the ground on the northern side of the pyramid, and 
entered a passage nearly four feet square, and with 
some difficulty and fatigue we went first down and 
then up, creeping through narrow openings and 


OFF TO THE PYRAMIDS 


119 


scrambling over rough places till vve explored the 
interior to our satisfaction. A detailed description 
of this exploration I will not attempt in these brief 
letters, but will refer our readers to the numerous 
books which have been written on the subject. We 
returned to the surface fairly exhausted, for the aw¬ 
ful gloom, lack of pure air and the difficulties experi¬ 
enced in moving about have a most depressing effect 
on one. Only strong, well people should enter the 
pyramid, as numbers, especially ladies, have been 
carried out of it in an unconscious condition. 

The Great Pyramid stands precisely to the four 
points of the compass, covers thirteen acres of ground, 
and is 451 feet high, its original height being 483 
feet. Near by stand two other pyramids, the larger 
of the two being only a few feet smaller than the 
great one. They are usually designated as the Great, 
Second and Third pyramids. We gave an Arab a 
franc to run down the Great one and ascend to the 
top of the Second one in eight minutes. He earned 
his money. There can be but little doubt that the 
general purpose of the pram ids was to serve as royal 
tombs. The Great Pyramid was built by Cheops, the 
second king of the fourth dynasty, who lived about 
3,700 years before Christ. The pyramid was doubt¬ 
less intended for the reception of his own body and 
that of his wife. Herodotus represents Cheops as 
spending ten years in making the causeway for the 
transfer of the materials and twenty more years in 
the construction of the pyramid. On this great 
work he employed 100,000 men,who were relieved at 
intervals of three months. 



120 


OUR TOUR AROUND THti WORLD 


We next examined the sphinx, about a quarter of 
a mile away, and which is probably older than the 
pyramids and almost of equal interest with them. 
Since the outstretched forelegs have been exposed 
by the digging away of the sand, this wonderful piece 
of sculpture appears to better advantage. It was 
chiseled out of the solid rock lying on the spot, and 
following Professor McGarvey’s measurements, “the 
length of the back, measured from the back of the 
neck to the haunches, is 123 feet,” it lifts its head up 
from the pavement on which it reclines, 66 feet high, 
and shows a breadth of face 13 feet and 8 inches, 
with a mouth 7 feet and 7 inches wide. During its 
eastern gaze, for centuries past, it has silently wit¬ 
nessed the rise and fall of many empires and the 
destiny of many peoples. 

When you are finished with the Arab assistants, 
their persistent clamor for bakhshish becomes an in¬ 
tolerable nuisance. About the only things to which 
they would give heed were the commands of the old 
sheikh and the vigorous wielding of a club in the 
hands of our dragoman. We beat them off, “and 
after the uproar was ceased” we returned to the 
shade of the trees along the road, and took our lunch. 
We then drove along the Nile near to the spot where 
tradition says Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in 
the ark of bulrushes, and being provided with our 
bathing costumes, we all had a delightful bath in 
the river, which was once the object of Egyptian 
worship. Though we paid for it with stiff limbs 
days afterwards, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to 
the pyramids. 


LETTER XX. 


AMONG THE ROYAL MUMMIES. 

What was formerly the Boulak Museum has now 
become the Museum of Gizeh. The palace of the 
viceroy, Ismail Pasha, at Gizeh, a suburb of Cairo, 
has been transformed into a museum, and the store 
of Egyptian treasures belonging to the Ancient, 
Middle and Modern Empires has been brought from 
Boulak, and arranged in it. The building is a mag¬ 
nificent and spacious one, and it cost about $25,000,- 
000. It is surrounded by an extensive and beautiful 
park, laid out in European style, the walks of which 
are a Mosaic pavement made of round pebbles 
brought from the desert and arranged in exquisite 
designs. There is also a very beautiful garden in 
the second story of the palace covered with a glass 
roof, and known as the Harem Garden. 

The palace is situated on the road leading to the 
Gizeh Pyramids, which was described in the preced¬ 
ing letter, and about one-third of the way out from 
Cairo. Crossing the large bridge over the Nile, and 
following the fine avenue along the edge of the river, 
passing on the right the water-works for irrigation, 
the court-house and the Agricultural College, we 

came to the entrance gate to the park of the muse- 

121 


122 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


um. This gate was opened to us at 8:80 a. m., and 
our carriage drove right up to the door. We depos¬ 
ited our umbrellas in the entrance room, and we 
then began our wanderings among the curious and 
intensely interesting monuments systematically ar¬ 
ranged in this building of nearly 100 rooms. This 
museum furnishes no catalogue in English, and the 
monuments are mostly marked in French. But hav¬ 
ing a reliable guide, we were not wholly dependent 
on the French catalogue. We saw halls crowded 
with fine statues, beautiful sarcophagi, cases of val¬ 
uable jewelry, funeral scarabs, mummies of animals, 
men, women and children, and many other things 
too numerous to mention. We examined the Book 
of the Dead, written on papyrus, and measured the 
hand of a statue of Rameses II., and found it twenty 
inches across the back. We saw on the wall a paint¬ 
ing representing a number of geese, which some 
scholars think is probably the oldest painting in the 
world, carrying us back some 4,000 years. These 
geese are so perfect in their outline and coloring that 
they would do credit to any modern book on natural 
history. We also saw a curiously-constructed 
mirror of modern invention, which presented twenty- 
one distinct images of ourselves as we stood before 
it, showing every part of the body. But there was 
one room which we were especially desirous of en¬ 
tering, and that was “The Hall of the Royal Mum¬ 
mies.” 

It was in 1881 when that remarkable discovery 
was made of some thirty-six mummies of kings, 




AMONG THE ROYAL MUMMIES 


123 


queens, princes,princesses and high priests at Deir el 
Bahari near the ruins of ancient Thebes, on the Nile 
in Upper Egypt, and which so suddenly sent the 
scientific world into a fever of excitement. These 
mummies are now to be seen nicely arranged in this 
Royal Hall, and the interminable line of tourists is 
passing by looking into their faces. The first one on 
whom we gazed was Rameses II., the real Pharaoh 
who oppressed Israel. His face is long and slim, 
with prominent cheekbones, small eyes, arched nose, 
thick lips,and a few locks of hair on the head. The 
body is draped in linen cloth, called mummy cloth. 
Next to him lies his father, Seti I., the Pharaoh 
who began the oppression, and whose daughter found 
Moses in the ark of bulrushes, and adopted him. 
Then came Thotmes III., Thotmes II., Rameses III., 
and six other royal mummies lying close together, 
the skin of the first two named being quite black. 
After passing the kings, queens, princes and prin¬ 
cesses, we came to the high priests. The richly 
decorated lids of the coffins are laid on one side. 
Many of the mummies are entirely unrolled, showing 
the body slightly draped, with the head, hands and 
feet uncovered, while others retain all the covering 
in which they were laid away centuries ago. Some 
of them are so well preserved that even the charac¬ 
teristic traits of the features are visible. It is a 
significant fact that the body of the Pharaoh 
who led the Egyptians in pursuit of the depart¬ 
ing Israelites, is not found among this or any other 
collection. Was he drowned in the Red Sea? 



12 4 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


We lingered a long time in this hall; and as we 
stood before this array of mummied royalty, and 
looked on the very forms and features of men and 
women who conversed with Moses, saw the children 
of Israel bending their backs under the increasing 
burdens, and whose words are recorded for our in¬ 
struction, we seemed to see the ancient peoples and 
monuments of Egypt rising up as living witnesses to 
the historical correctness and divine origin of the 
holy Scriptures. The people who painted these pic¬ 
tures, chiseled these statues, built these pyramids, 
wrote their history on these monuments, and pre¬ 
pared these mummies, were not savages, slightly re¬ 
moved from the brute creation in the Darwinian 
process of evolution. If this so-called process of 
evolution has not been discernible since these Egyp¬ 
tians lived and taught sciences and practiced arts 
nearly 5,000 years ago, which the world has not 
been able to restore, how long would it require to 
evolve a perfect man out of a moneron or a tadpole? 
It would necessitate the existence of man on the 
earth ages before it, according to astronomy, ceased 
to be a red-hot ball! Verily, such a process of evo¬ 
lution begins and ends in the human brain only. 


LETTER XXL 


AMONG THE MOSQUES AND BAZAARS. 

Before leaving Cairo we spent one day visiting the 
principal mosques, bazaars, and other objects of in¬ 
terest in the city. On this day we dispensed with 
the carriage and regular guide, and had a rich ex¬ 
perience with the Egyptian donkey-riding and donkey 
boys We made this change for two reasons: first, 
we wanted the experience of donkey-riding, and, 
secondly, we could go on these animals among the 
bazaars and through the out-of-the-way places where 
a carriage could not take us. These boys are a curi¬ 
osity, and are an interesting study for the tourist. 
Most of them can speak a few words of English, 
French and German, and as they are thoroughly 
acquainted with the city,they make tolerable guides. 
Both the donkeys and their drivers understand their 
business. The donkeys are the street cars and ele¬ 
vated railways of Cairo; and the great body of the 
people, of all classes, who ride at all, use them 
freely. There are no strikes on these lines. 

When our outfit presented itself before our hotel, 
we hesitated to mount; for in the first place, the 
little creatures did not seem large enough to carry 
the weight; and then we wondered how we could 

125 


126 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ride on them without tumbling off. But the saddles 
were European and well secured, and once on them, 
we were delighted with the easy manner in which 
we were carried along The hair on the body and 
limbs of these animals was cut into fancy patterns, 
reminding us of the hieroglyphics on the monuments. 
Their names were, respectively, Ginger, Flying 
Dutchman and Yankee Doodle. Mrs T. was honored 
with the Flying Dutchman, which more than once 
got her into trouble. Once he refused to climb a 
flight of steps in our path, and the boys said, u Be 
quiet, lady; we’ll help up,” and four of them seized 
a leg each and carried up donkey and all! I have 
been asked what I did with my feet. I prefer leav¬ 
ing such details to be filled in by the imagination of 
our readers. 

We first visited the Citadel, which is built on the 
flank of a hill overlooking the city. The Citadel was 
erected in A. D. 1166, by Saladin, and the stone for 
its walls and'buildings was mainly brought from the 
small pyramid at Gizeh. Within the walls are many 
objects of interest. The palace, built by Mohammed 
Ali, is occupied by British officers, and it contains 
a number of fine rooms. Our entrance was by a mas¬ 
sive arched gateway and thence along a winding path 
to the highest part of the Citadel. It was in this 
road the slaughter of the Mamelukes took place in 
1811. We saw the track left by the horse on which 
the only survivor made his escape by spurring his 
noble animal over the battlement! It has been chis¬ 
eled in a large rock on the top of the present wall, 


AMONG THE MOSQUES AND BAZAARS 


127 


and appears quite fresh. Near here is Joseph’s well, 
with which, contrary to the opinion of many, the 
Joseph of Scripture evidently had nothing to do. It 
took its name from Saladin, whose Arabic name was 
Jusup, and it was discovered during the building of 
the Citadel. It is estimated to be 295 feet deep, 
its bottom is thought to be on a level with the Nile 
and it is descended by a stairw r ay. From the Cita¬ 
del a fine view is obtained of the city and surround¬ 
ing country. 

There are more than 300 mosques in Cairo, and 
two of the principal ones we visited. The Mosque of 
Mohammed Ali stands within the precincts of the 
Citadel, and it is built after the plan of the Mosque 
of St. Sophia at Constantinople. It is a magnifi¬ 
cent structure. The great court is paved with ala¬ 
baster and is surrounded with a row of columns; and 
the whole is surmounted by a dome supported by 
two massive pillars. In the center is the basin for 
ablutions before prayer, at which our local guide 
washed his hands and feet before accompanying us 
through the building, and in the east corner is the 
tomb of Mohammed Ali. The Mosque of Sultan 
Hassan, just below the Citadel, is also one of the 
finest mosques in Cairo; and before entering either 
of these sacred buildings, the visitor is required to 
have his feet cased in slippers provided at the door. 
One of my slippers came off while treading on a par¬ 
ticularly sacred spot. The attendant smiled, and 
made haste to replace it; but not before I had made 
at least one unholy track. We next wound our way 



128 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


through the narrow streets and curious'bazaars of old 
Cairo, where the motley Oriental people are crowded 
together like bees in a hive, and where we saw many 
very strange and interesting things. We met a 
funeral procession, the coffin being carried on the 
shoulders of four men. 

Cairo has a population of some 400,000, represent¬ 
ing nearly every nation under heaven, especially the 
Oriental countries. But the great mass of the peo¬ 
ple are the native Egyptians, with over 20,000 Euro¬ 
peans. The city undoubtedly presents the most motley 
crowd we have ever seen,and the visitor meets with 
many very strange things. The Oriental people mostly 
wear very loose clothing, which is frequently aug¬ 
mented by a long flowing robe. It looks as if the 
whole city had turned out in bloomers in every shade 
of color. The rich Arab rides a large white donkey 
whose head is decked with bright colored tassels and 
around whose neck jingle brass and bead chains. 
The rider has no stirrups and he swings his feet back 
and forth as if he were keeping time to the movements 
of the donkey. He wears white stockings, and over 
these a pair of pointed red slippers to match his red 
turban. The women wear veils,with an upright gilt 
ornament on the forehead to keep the veil in place. 
Water-carriers are on the streets with their goat¬ 
skins full of water slung across their shoulders, and 
the constant clang,clang,clang,of their brass cups is 
heard everywhere. Occasionally a carriage in which 
are some noted persons dashes through the streets, 
and before it are runnning two gorgeously dressed 


AMONG THE MOSQUES AND BAZAARS 


129 


natives with long sticks in their hands to clear the 
way for the carriage. And so the strange tide of hu¬ 
manity in this great city ever ebbs and flows. 

We were highly satisfied with our donkey-riding 
experience, and when we returned to our hotel we 
enjoyed the rest all the more in consequence of it. 
We were also pleased with our hotel accommodation. 
The Couteret Hotel proved to be a nice, quiet place 
where every courtesy was shown us. We were al¬ 
ways received at the breakfast table by the lady in 
charge with a hearty bon jour. As only French was 
spoken, we sometimes had a little innocent amuse¬ 
ment at the expense of our attendants. Once our 
lady trotter called for a light, and she was furnished 
with a black bottle of wine. We were not much 
surprised at this mistake, for the first and last thing 
for which most Americans call when in Cairo is wine, 
or something stronger, notwithstanding their tem¬ 
perance sentiments and habits at home. Their ex¬ 
cuse is, the water in Cairo is bad. The trouble with 
these gentlemen and ladies is that they find the water 
bad everywhere they go. At our hotel the wine bot¬ 
tle and glass were always sitting at our plate to be 
used without extra charge, and the French people 
who sat at the table with us were amazed that we 
did not touch them. We happened to know,however, 
that the Nilo water, with which Cairo is supplied, is 
quite pure, and, with a lump of ice in it, wonder¬ 
fully refreshing. I wish further to place on record 
at this point the fact that we have lived in many 
kinds of climate and have traveled entirely around 


180 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


the globe without finding the necessity for the use 
of strong drink. Near our hotel was situated the 
Egyptian Mission of the United Presbyterian Church 
of America,which I had the pleasure of visiting and 
from which I gathered much information respecting 
the excellent work being done by this mission. 

We took our departure from Cairo for Alexandria 
at 4:45 p. m., June 28, and we had a delightful ride 
on the train through a beautiful country. The Nile 
had commenced its annual rise, and it was sending 
its waters along the smaller canals and the ditches 
right out into the heart of the country. The grad¬ 
ual rise and overflow of the Nile is a glorious sight, 
and there is seldom an occurrence in Egypt that 
causes more rejoicing among the people; for on this 
overflow depends the success of the country. 

We arrived at Alexandria at 8 p. M.,and were driven 
from the station to Abbat’s Grand Hotel, almost in 
the heart of the city, where English was spoken. 


LETTER XXII. 


FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE. 

Our stay in Alexandria was short. After securing 
comfortable rooms in our hotel, we spent the even¬ 
ing walking along some of the principal streets and 
through some of the beautiful parks, which were 
brilliantly lighted, and where thousands of well-be¬ 
haved people, representing many nationalities and 
displaying a variety of costumes, were to be seen till 
late in the night, promenading or sitting at tables 
in the open air, enjoying light refreshments. Instead 
of going into the restaurants, these people delight in 
having their ice-cream, lemonade, cakes, fruits, etc., 
brought out to them, where they take ample time for 
disposing of the good things under the broad canopy 
of heaven. There is something about this free and 
easy outdoor life in the Egyptian cities that seems 
both healthful and enjoyable. We went into a French 
cafe and took our supper; and though no one in the 
place could speak English, we managed to get what 
we wanted, and then returned to our hotel for the 
night. 

At an early hour next morning we breakfasted in 
the beautiful open, tile-paved court of our hotel, 
with the high walls above us and trees, shrubs and 

131 


1&2 OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 

flowers all around us. Unless especially ordered and 
paid for, the breakfast in these hotels,or “coffee” as 
it is called, is usually plain, consisting of coffee, 
bread, butter, jam, and one kind of meat, or eggs. 
The bread of Egypt w*e pronounced first-class, and 
the loaves are about the same size and shape that 
they were 8,000 years ago; being about 15 inches 
long, 12 inches in circumference in the middle and 
tapering to a point at both ends. In the Gizeh Mu¬ 
seum we saw ancient Egyptian bake-ovens contain¬ 
ing moulds for loaves of this shape. After breakfast, 
our carriage being ready, we rode out to see the 
sights. We drove first to Pompey’s Pillar, erected 
at the commencement of the fourth century, A. D., 
by a Roman prefect of that name. It stands on a 
high piece of ground, probably the highest site in 
the ancient city, and near to an old Mohammedan 
cemetery. The elegant shaft is of polished red gran¬ 
ite, and the total height, including the pedestal, is 
about 100 feet. It is plainly seen from the harbor. 
I broke off no specimen of that red granite; I only 
furnished the hammer, while an Arab chipped the 
specimens. It was hard work, and had I not seen 
abundant evidence that other tourists had been guilty 
of procuring specimens of the pillar, I would not 
have permitted that hammer to go on its errand of 
destruction. The two other obelisks, called “Cleo¬ 
patra’s Needles,” have been removed from Alexan¬ 
dria, one to the Thames Embankment, London,and the 
other to Central Park, New York City, where we saw 
them later on our journey. From the pillar we drove 


FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE 


188 


around the city looking at the principal objects of 
interest till noon, when we took our departure on 
the steamship Vesta of the Austrian Lloyd Line, for 
Joppa, by way of Port Said. The agents of Thomas 
Cook & Son drove us to the wharf, passed us through 
the Custom House and rowed us to our boat, which 
was anchored far out in the bay. There were numer¬ 
ous boats in the harbor, which presented an ani¬ 
mated scene. The city, wdiich stands on a flat coast, 
soon receded from our sight, and on rounding the 
great breakwaters east of the harbor, which are com¬ 
posed of artificial blocks weighing twenty tons each, 
we were smoothly sailing on the Mediterranean Sea. 
For some distance along the coast we noticed that 
the sea was colored by the water of the Nile, which 
gives it a yellowish-green tint. Alexandria has 280, 
800 inhabitants, one-fourth of whom are Europeans, 
and is an important city, which, during its early 
history, was intimately connected with the develop¬ 
ment of Christian theology. 

At five o’clock next morning we anchored in the 
harbor, directly before Port Said. Port Said is sit¬ 
uated at the point where the Suez Canal enters the 
Mediterranean Sea and to the canal it owes its ori¬ 
gin. It has 21,000 inhabitants, and its transit traffic 
is considerable. We went ashore in one of the nice 
little Arab boats which line the edge of the harbor, 
and soon saw all there was of interest in the place. 
It is noted for Arab filth and European wickedness. 
The city is supplied with water in pipes brought 
all the way from the Sweetwater Canal at Ismailia. 


184 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


It is here mainly that travelers leave the great 
through steamship lines to visit Palestine. We car¬ 
ried a circular letter from our Consular Agent in 
Dunedin, New Zealand, but on the advice of Thomas 
Cook’s agents we also procured here a passport with 
Turkish visa , and for this important document, 
written in Arabic, which we were never asked to 
show during all our journey, we paid our American 
representative and the Egyptian Government $1 
each. It will at least serve us in America as a curi¬ 
osity. 

At 6:80 p. m. we left the Port for Joppa. Before 
sailing, the niece of the ex-Khedive took passage by 
our boat, and she put on all the airs of a queen. 
Her stateroom was opposite ours, with only a nar¬ 
row passage between, and when she drew the curtain 
of her door to one side, she was seen stretched at 
full length on the couch, smoking a cigarette! We 
also saw in Cairo a number of Egyptian girls smok¬ 
ing cigarettes. 

The voyage from Port Said to Joppa was made in 
the night, and, except our supper on board, it was 
devoid of special interest. We had sat at English, 
Indian, French and Egyptian tables, and now we 
are to have a German supper on a boat on which 
only German is spoken. Well, here it is in eleven 
courses: 1. Soup. 2. Sardines and prunes. 8. 
Boiled fish and sauce. 4. Beefsteak, greens and Irish 
potatoes. 5. Veal chops, nicely wrapped in white 
tissue paper. 6. Chicken and lettuce. 7. Cheese 
and bread. 8. Iced pudding. 9. Cherries, apricots, 


FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE 


185 


bananas and muskmelon. 10. Coffee, ice-water and 
wine. 11. Smoking. At each place there was a 
stack of plates—ten in number—and you commenced 
with the top one and kept eating till you got to the 
bottom. I do not mean that you eat the plates; but 
that you use a single plate for each course of food. 
I also include the smoking in the bill of fare, for 
with the men it seemed to be a part of the regular 
courses. They smoked their cigars over the table, 
as the proper thing to do, asking no questions for—I 
was about to say, “for conscience’ sake,” but I am 
afraid the fire of the cigar has so seared their con¬ 
sciences that this faculty is not consulted in the mat¬ 
ter. We sacrificed what little German etiquette we 
possessed, and retired before this course was finished. 

After a pleasant night’s rest, we arose early next 
morning to have our first view of the Holy Land. 


LETTER XXIII. 


LANDING AT JOPPA. 

To one who has had a strong desire, from youth 
up, to visit the scenes of Christ and the Apostles, 
and is on the eve, for the first time, of satisfying 
this desire, the approach to the Holy Land creates 
within him an interest akin to excitement He ex¬ 
periences the strange sensation of gazing upon a land 
sacred above all other places, and, in many respects, 
unlike any other land. 

Our approach was on a beautiful Sunday morning 
in June. We arose with the sun and w r ent on the 
deck of our German boat to catch the first glimpse of 
Canaan’s shores. The first object we could make 
out was Gaza, far south of us, toward which the 
eunuch was driving in his chariot from Jerusalem, 
when Ire was baptized by Philip. A little later the 
bluish heights of the Judean mountains in the dis¬ 
tance, the yellow Mediterranean shore, and finally 
Joppa, rising in terraces from the water’s edge, like 
a fortress on the slope of a hill, with trees dotting 
the shore at the southern end, came into view. The 
English school for girls, and some other European 
buildings on top of the hill, showed to good advan¬ 
tage, presenting a pleasing contrast with their gen- 

136 


LANDING AT JOPPA 


137 



era_ surroundings. The Roman Catholic Church also 
occupies a conspicuous position on a terrace near the 
sea; and, as our boat was dropping anchor at 8:30, 
the bell was ringing a merry call to its worshipers. 

There is no good harbor at Joppa, and so all the 
steamers have to anchor more than half a mile from 
the land, and if the weather is stormy, landing here 
is impossible, and the passengers are taken right on 
to Haifa or Beyrout. Indeed, landing here is never 
very pleasant, nearly always being attended with 
some danger and much noise and confusion. The 
steamer is quickly surrounded with Arab rowboats, 
whose occupants clamor for passengers and bag¬ 
gage, while the rocking and bobbing of all the boats 
by the side of the vessel cause a timid person to hes¬ 
itate in making the effort to get into one of them. 
As we were traveling under the arrangement of 
Thomas Cook & Son, we felt that we were in good 
hands. They have a number of splendid boats, built 
specially for their tourists’ service on this harbor, 
and they are skillfully manned by a uniformed crew. 
We saw their boat, flying a red flag bearing the 
names of these popular agents, take the lead in the 
spirited race for our ship, and it was first to reach 
us. The men immediately came on board, and with 
an ease born of coolness and experience, placed us 
and our baggage in their boat, and started on the 
return journey. Gaze & Sons also sent out a boat 
and took off two English ladies, who were on their 
way to Hebron to engage in missionary work. 

Between us and the shore were many rocks, partly 


188 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


hidden beneath the water, and among these we had 
to carefully steer our way. Boats are sometimes 
capsized or broken on these rocks, and scores of peo¬ 
ple, mainly pilgrims, have been drowned here. 
Finally we came to an opening only a few feet wide 
between two rocks, and our helmsman, watching his 
opportunity, allowed his boat to be lifted on the 
crest of a large wave while he shot it like an arrow 
through the passage, and we were safe. 

We were passed through the Custom House with¬ 
out the Turkish officials examining any of our bag¬ 
gage. We walked a few paces to a street, where we 
found a carriage in waiting for us, and a five min¬ 
utes’ drive brought us to the Jerusalem Hotel. 

On landing in Joppa, we were in the care of Thomas 
Cook & Son during a specified term in Palestine,and 
we found their arrangements admirable in every re¬ 
spect. Their management is simple, furnishes the 
traveler with every needed comfort, and saves him 
much time, labor and worry. You specify the num¬ 
ber of days you wish to spend in the country, and 
the places in a general way you wish to visit, and 
then purchase a ticket covering all expenses, except 
such bakhshish as you may desire to give to servants 
and others for special services rendered. The agents 
supply the rest. They land you from the steamer 
and embark you at the expiration of your term, se¬ 
curing your berths, and putting you into the most 
comfortable quarters to be had on board. They 
pass you through the Custom Houses without any 
trouble. They furnish competent dragomans horses, 



LANDING AT JOPPA 


189 


carriages, muleteers, tents, servants, hotel accom¬ 
modation, Turkish soldiers and Arab sheikhs, as es¬ 
corts, when needed, pay all entrance fees to sacred 
places, and take charge of any money or valuables 
you do not wish to carry constantly on your person. 
Everything is first-class throughout. In short, you 
do nothing but ride in the carriage or saddle, listen 
to the cut-and-dried speeches of your guide, lie on 
your back in the shade of the trees, eat, sleep, read 
books and meditate on the interesting things you 
have seen. Cook’s tours in Palestine and elsewhere 
are of two kinds—in large parties, or you may pur¬ 
chase individual tickets and select your own party,or 
go alone. The latter is more expensive. Neverthe¬ 
less, we were selfish enough to want a party of only 
three, and thus we could select our own route, the 
time to be spent at any one place, etc. We like in¬ 
dependence. 

The Jerusalem Hotel is a pleasant place to stop. 
The proprietor, Mr. E. Hardegg, is the American 
Vice-Consul, and he furnishes a first-class table. In 
the front of the building is a group of twelve rooms, 
which are named after the twelve tribes of Israel. 
Judah was assigned to us during our stay in Joppa. 



LETTER XXIV. 


IN JOPPA. 

The present name of Joppa is Jaffa. It is also 
called Yaffa. It has a long and interesting history, 
some ancient geographers affirming that a city ex¬ 
isted here before the Flood. In Joshua xix. 46, it is 
called Japho, which the Hebrews translated “the 
beautiful.” Anciently it was a Phenician colony, 
in the land of the Philistines. When the division 
of the land was made under Joshua, it was in the 
boundaries of Dan. It was to Joppa where Hiram, 
King of Tyre, brought cedar and pine-wood from 
Lebanon in “floats by sea,” for the building of Solo¬ 
mon’s Temple, whence it was carried up to Jerusa¬ 
lem by the road where it now exists. The materials 
for the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel, 
were also brought to Joppa from Lebanon. It was 
at Joppa Jonah took passage for Tarshish when flee¬ 
ing “from the presence of the Lord.” It was here 
Peter raised Dorcas to life, whose “good works and 
almsdeeds” made her the object of the widows’ love, 
gave her wonderful influence in the town, and sent 
her name down through the ages to adorn and in¬ 
spire the benevolent societies in our churches all over 
140 


IN JOPPA 


141 


the civilized world; and it was here that Peter saw 
the remarkable vision which convinced him that the 
distinction between Jew and Gentile had been abol¬ 
ished, and henceforth the gospel was to be preached 
to every creature—that God is no respecter of per¬ 
sons, but in every nation, he that feareth him and 
worketh righteousness, is accepted of him. 

Since our Saviour’s day, Joppa has had its times 
of prosperity and adversity; several times it has 
been destroyed, and rebuilt, and over it and around 
it have swept many destructive military storms. 
Joppa as it now is, is indeed beautiful, if viewed 
from the sea; but when you enter it, there appears 
almost everything but the beautiful The rock on 
which much of it stands is 116 feet high. Its houses 
are mainly built of tuffstone, flat-roofed, crowded so 
close together that they appear almost like one mass 
of buildings, and the streets are narrow, winding, 
and exceedingly dirty. Having gone through one 
of these filthy lanes, I thought Mrs. T. should not 
lose so rich an experience, and so she accompanied 
me on a subsequent occasion. She suggested a bot¬ 
tle of perfumery for our next walk. It is no wonder 
that many natives here die of fever every summer. 
On one street in the new part of the town a few busi¬ 
ness houses have been erected of stone and brick on 
the European plan, which present a respectable and 
business-like appearance. The bazaars are small, 
and usually present a motley throng of purchasers, 
the natives of the district largely predominating. 
We saw huge piles of melons on the streets, many 


142 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


of them as large as a strong man could carry, and 
without exception the most delicious we have ever 
tasted. These melons are grown in great abundance 
on the Plain of Sharon around Joppa. Some of the 
natives were roasting small ears of green corn over a 
few coals on the street, and selling them at about a 
cent each. 

The walls of the town have disappeared, and new 
and pleasant-looking suburbs have sprung up. One 
of these comprises a German Colony of the religious 
sect known as the “Temple,” or “Friends of Jeru¬ 
salem.” They number about 320, possess a school 
and hospital, and engage in trade and commerce. 
Still farther out toward the northeast there is an¬ 
other colony of these people, numbering about 270 
souls. About 15,000 pilgrims land here annually on 
their way to Jerusalem, and to these Joppa owes 
much of its present importance. Its exports are con¬ 
siderable, and consist of soap, Indian corn, oranges 
and other fruits, melons and wine of Sharon. The 
population is estimated at 23,000, of whom 12,000 
are Mohammedans, 6,000 Christians and 5,000 Jews. 
The Bedouin Arabs bring into the town much wheat 
on the backs of camels and donkeys. We saw one 
of these dusky “sons of the desert” driving through 
the streets twenty-five camels, all tied together and 
walking in single file about ten feet apart, with high 
heads, swinging gait and independent airs. The 
orange groves in and about Joppa are extensive, and 
the oranges are large, seedless and luscious. Lemons, 
pomegranates and other fruits are also extensively 


IN JOPPA 


143 

grown here. Indeed, the scene for miles around is 
one of luxuriant beauty; and many of the groves and 
orchards are enclosed with impenetrable prickly cac¬ 
tus hedges. There are four hotels in the town and 
a number of hospices. 

Soon after arriving at our hotel we were introduced 
to our dragoman, Abraham Lyons, an Austrian, who 
claims to speak eight languages. He speaks good 
English, so far as his vocabulary goes. Under his 
care we entered upon our work immediately. We 
were first driven to the traditional house of Simon 
the tanner, where Peter lodged and saw the vision. 
It is an old, dilapidated-looking stone house, with a 
stairway on the outside, leading to the fiat roof. At 
the foot of the stairway is a beautiful fig tree, and a 
well from which you may take a cool draught of 
water; and on an adjoining roof is a small light¬ 
house. It is “by the seaside,” and commands a fine 
view. The keeper of the place, who takes in the 
pennies from the sight-seers,appears to be in keeping 
with the shabby building; and one of the things to 
be remembered is the fact that the place is infested 
with millions of fleas. Peter is not the only visitor 
to the spot who has had visions of “creeping things” 
while trying to sleep. We saw an old tannery near 
by, and while we do not believe this house is the 
identical house of Simon, we think it probable that 
his house was not unlike this one, and that it could 
not have been far away. 

This being Sunday, we next attended Episcopal 
Church service at 11a. m. The place was near our 



144 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


hotel, and we passed round what appeared to be a 
private dwelling and entered a back room about 
twenty feet square, with two doors, twa small 
windows, plain seats, and a few neat Scripture 
mottoes on the wall. The preacher read for his 
lesson the account of Peter’s visit to Joppa and 
his raising Dorcas to life, and read a short sermon 
in English, his wife presiding at the small organ. 
There were present two men, two women, two boys, 
the preacher and his wife, two of us and our drago¬ 
man, eleven in all. The Scripture narratives seemed 
to take a living form when read on the ground around 
which the scenes described transpired. A represent¬ 
ative of this mission was soliciting money with 
which to erect a church building. We contributed 
our mite; but we are of the opinion that the preacher 
in charge will not convert Joppa very soon. 

After having our dinner and taking a short rest, 
our carriage called at the hotel to take us on our 
journey towards Jerusalem. 


LETTER XXV. 


GOING UP TO JERUSALEM. 

“And after those days we took up our carriages, 
aud went up to Jerusalem.” This is what Luke says 
in Acts xxi. 15 respecting Paul’s final visit to the 
Holy City. But the apostle and his companions 
went up from Caesarea; we went up from Joppa, 
farther south on the same seacoast. They “took up” 
their “carriages;” our carriage took us up. Their 
carriages consisted in their light Oriental hand-hag- 
gage; our carriage was a nice two-horse vehicle, with 
a top and movable side-curtains, so as to protect us 
from the sun and at the same time afford a fine 
view of our surroundings. We all probably went up 
the last part of the journey by the same road, the 
road which was trodden by the feet of the prophets, 
apostles and Jesus himself; the road over which the 
ark of God was borne in triumph to Mount Zion, 
and the road which, in later times, was made to echo 
with “the tramp of Roman legipns and the war-cry 
of the Crusaders.” This road has been greatly im¬ 
proved, and is now a good carriage road all the way 
from Joppa to Jerusalem. As the iron horse has now 
entered the Holy Land, and makes one trip each 
way daily between Joppa and Jerusalem, Cook’s 
145 


146 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


agents allowed us to take our choice between the two 
ways of going up. As we wished to see as much of 
the country as we could, we decided to go by the road 
and return by rail. 

The station at Jaffa is in the northeastern suburb 
of the town, on the seashore, near the German Col¬ 
ony. On leaving the station, the train makes a curve 
to the northeast, skirting the beautiful orange and 
lemon plantations, then turning in a southeastern 
direction, passing through the Plain of Sharon, by 
Lydda, and Ramleh, it follows the depression of 
Wady el Sarar and, Wady el Werd (valley of roses), 
till it reaches the station on the Plain of Rephaim 
on the south of Jerusalem, fifteen minutes from the 
Joppa gate. The carriage road leaves Joppa through 
the Jerusalem gate, passing through the southeastern 
suburb of the town, and runs parallel to the rail¬ 
way, on the south side, till Ramleh is reached, thir¬ 
teen and one-half miles out; and here it crosses the 
railway, and taking a more eastern direction, winds 
its way over the Judean hills, entering Jerusalem 
from the northwest. 

At 8 p. m. on Sunday, we stepped into our car¬ 
riage in front of the Jerusalem Hotel, our dragoman 
taking his seat with the Arab driver, ready to point 
out the objects of interest by the way, and we were 
off to the Holy City, forty-one miles distant by road 
and fifty-four by rail. We drove through the crowded 
bazaars, the dragoman shouting to tlie curious peo¬ 
ple to make way for our carriage “Who are those 
dignified-looking fellows on the streets in long black 



GOING UP TO JERUSALEM 


147 


robes and tall black hats, much like the American 
gentleman’s silk hat?” “Those,” said the dragoman, 
“are Greek priests.” 

Passing through 'the ’new suburbs, we enjoy the 
drive in the shade of trees and admire the lofty cac¬ 
tus-hedges and extensive orchards and gaidens. We 
saw water-wheels everywhere, turned by a donkey 
or camel, lifting the water from the wells and pour¬ 
ing it into the ditches by which the land is irrigated. 
In a few moments we arrive at the ruins of an old 
mosque at the left of the road, surrounded by syca¬ 
more and cypress trees, and in the wall of which is 
a fountain of cold water. This is pointed out as 
the site of the house in which Peter raised Dorcas to 
life. Once a year hundreds of superstitious people 
assemble here and hold a sort of religious picnic in 
commemoration of the noted event. Soon after leav¬ 
ing this fountain we entered the Scripture Plain of 
Sharon, which averages nearly ten miles wide, and, 
beginning a short distance south of Joppa, it stretches 
northward between the central hills and the Mediter¬ 
ranean Sea to Mt. Carmel, beyond Caesarea, a dis¬ 
tance of about fifty miles. It is celebrated in the 
Scriptures for its fertility, beautiful roses, and suit¬ 
ableness for pasturage. It resembles a rich western 
prairie, and in"the spring it produces flowers and 
grass in great profusion. Although our visit was late 
in the season for flowers, we saw some that reminded 
us of the Rose of Sharon, and we gathered a few and 
pressed them in our specimen book. The plain is 
also extensively cultivated, and in proper hands is 


148 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


capable of much better things. We soon came to a 
watch-tower rising on the right. It is the first of 
seventeen, which were built in 1860, at irregular in¬ 
tervals, to guard the road to Jerusalem. At present 
they are only partially garrisoned. 

A little later we passed on the left the mud village 
of Bet Began , or Beth Dagon, of Scripture (house of 
Dagon), probably the site of one of the houses of 
Dagon, the Philistine god. 

At 5:80 p. m. we entered Ramleh and put up at 
the Reinhardt Hotel for the night. Mr. Reinhardt 
is a German who has lived several years in America, 
speaks good English and keeps a neat hotel. At sun¬ 
set we stood on top of the Ramleh Tower, which is 
reached by 120 steps, and had a magnificent view. 
Luxuriant orchards spread out before us, and to the 
northeast was Lvdda, now called Ludd, where Peter 
raised ^Eneas from his sick bed, and far beyond this 
was Mount Gerizim, lifting its head up 2,849 feet 
above the level of the sea, with a white Mohammedan 
tomb more than half-way up its side. Ramleh is 
not mentioned in the Scriptures, but is a more mod¬ 
ern town of some importance, having a population 
of 8 ; 000, about 1,000 of whom are Greek Catholics. 
The town possesses some soap factories,convents and 
mosques. The tradition that Ramleh corresponds 
with the Arimathea of the New Testament in which 
lived Joseph who laid Jesus in his own new tomb at 
Jerusalem is without historical foundation, and it 
probably originated in the thirteenth century. We 
found the air here after sunset delightfully cool and 
bracing. 


GOING UP TO JERUSALEM 


149 


Early next morning we drove out to see Lydda, 
two and a half miles away. It was a delightful ride. 
The road took us between beautiful and extensive 
olive groves and pomegranate trees, large melon and 
tomato patches, and tall, impenetrable cactus hedges. 
We drove down a narrow lane, between flat-roofed 
houses, turned a little to the right, and alighted in 
front of St. George’s Church, now in possession of 
the Greeks. A monk opened the door and we en¬ 
tered. We smelt the sweet incense from the morning 
worship. After examining the main part of the 
church, we took lighted candles and descended a 
flight of steps into a dark room, where we were shown 
the traditional tomb of St. George, the patron saint 
of England. It is about three feet long. In the 
lanes of the village we noticed large numbers of 
earthen water-jars for sale, and near the road a 
threshing-floor of some ten acres of ground covered 
with wheat and straw, which had been carried 
there on the backs of camels and donkeys. The 
camels were kneeling to have their loads taken off, 
and, like some church members, whether they are 
being loaded or unloaded, they are continually growl¬ 
ing in a most piteous way. The donkeys carry their 
burdens in silence; and the load they usually carry 
is astonishing We met one not much larger than a 
sheep near Lydda on whose back we counted twenty- 
five two and three gallon earthen jars, and on top of 
these was perched a big Arab. It is not an uncom¬ 
mon thing to see these animals so loaded that you 
can see only the tip ends of the tail and nose pro¬ 
truding, while their little legs are trembling under 


150 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


the great load. Sometimes they completely break 
down, and then they are beaten for what they can 
not do. Our dragoman told us of an American lady 
in his charge who found a donkey in this helpless 
condition,and she asked him to intercede for thedumb 
animal. The only reply of the owner was: “What 
is this to you? If I kill the donkey, it is mine. ” 
The Arab knows no mercy for his beast. Not only 
the dumb animals in Palestine, but the men, women 
and children, are great burden-bearers. This is par¬ 
ticularly noticeable in Jerusalem. It was no doubt 
this general burdening of man and beast to which 
Jesus referred when he said: “Come unto me all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest,” etc. We also saw along the road through 
the Plain of Sharon numerous small heaps of stones, 
about a foot high, marking the boundaries of the 
land. These small, loose stones could be easily re¬ 
moved; and hence the law which says: “Thou shalt 
not remove thy neighbor’s landmark.” 

We returned to Kamleh at 8 a. m. and resumed 
our journey to Jerusalem. 

We crossed the railroad near the station, passed 
over a small bridge, and, in about half an hour, we 
descended the beautiful, winding road into the Val¬ 
ley of Ajalon, probably a mile and a half wide and 
several miles long, and running in a northeast and 
southwest direction. It was here that Joshua said: 
“Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon 
in the Valley of Ajalon;” and Gibeon was directly 
in front of us, though hid by the top of an interven- 


GOING UP TO JERUSALEM 


151 


ing mountain. We gathered some stones from the 
brook that flows through the valley, and flowers 
from the field, and passed on to the villages of Latrun 
and Amwas, a short distance apart on our left, and 
near the eastern edge of the Valley of Ajalon. 
Latrun means robber, and a mediaeval legend says 
this place was the home of the penitent thief. It 
is more likely to be the present home of impenitent 
thieves. Amwas is believed by some to be the Emmaus 
of the New Testament, but others, with better rea¬ 
son, think it too far from Jerusalem to meet the 
Scripture requirement. See Luke xxiv. 13. 

At the foot of the hills we took lunch at a dirty 
Syrian hotel, called Bab el Wady , meaning gate of 
the valley. We wished we could have dispensed 
with our noses while trying to eat and rest. From 
here we slowly wound our way up among the Judean 
hills, till we reached an altitude of 1,500 feet above 
the level of the Mediterranean Sea, where a fine view' 
to the west suddenly burst upon us—Ramleh, the 
Plain of Sharon, Joppa, and the sea were all visible. 
Half-way up to this elevation we gathered some green 
pods of the carob-tree, evidently the “husks” with 
which the Prodigal Son “would fain have filled” 
himself. We saw’ in this vicinity many of these 
trees loaded with the green fruit. Passing over the 
hill, in a few minutes we came to Kirjath-jearim, 
where the ark of God remained for twenty years. 
It is a village on the right, close to the road, com¬ 
prising about 100 square, flat-roofed stone houses, 
surrounded with olive, orange, mulberry, pomegran- 


152 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ate and a few other trees, and built on the side of a 
hill. We now descended rapidly by a zig-zag course 
into the upper part of the Valley of Sorek, where 
tradition has placed the celebrated conflict between 
David and Goliath, but the site does not agree 
with the Scripture narrative of the event. It was 
somewhere in this valley Samson visited the infa¬ 
mous Delilah, who was the occasion of his destruc¬ 
tion. Here is Kuloniyeh, a nice little place with 
orchards, gardens and groves, and is a resting place 
for travellers. A short distance along the valley to 
our right is Ain Karim , a fresh-looking village, with 
a Catholic church, and surrounded by beautifully 
terraced hills set in olive, fig and other fruit trees, 
and is the traditional birthplace of John the Bap¬ 
tist. It is certainly in “the hill country” of Judea. 
To our left was ancient Mizpeh, a high, conical hill 
crowned by a mosque with a minaret, of which we 
had a fine view before descending into the valley. 

We refreshed ourselves in a cafe, gathered some 
“smooth stones out of the brook,” near where the 
bridge spans it, in memory of David’s victory over 
Goliath, and then slowly followed the winding road 
up the hill for about four miles, and lol Jerusalem 
came in sight. 


LETTER XXVI. 


IN JERUSALEM. 

Our experience on approaching Jerusalem was un¬ 
like that of some travellers. We shed no tears on 
sighting the Holy City. Our eyes were too busy with 
interesting scenes to be dimmed with tears. The 
saddest time to us was on taking leave of the city, 
when its walls, domes and towers, one by one, grad¬ 
ually faded from our view, probably forever, as our 
train moved toward Joppa. 

The first objects we saw were the houses compris¬ 
ing the new European suburb, through which we 
passed on the northwestern side of the old city. 
Then the surrounding hills south and east of the 
city, including the Mount of Olives, and finally the 
walls came into view. At 5:80 p. m. we reached 
Howard’s Hotel, a magnificent stone building just 
outside the Joppa gate, owned by a wealthy Arab, 
and possessing every needed convenience and com¬ 
fort. Here in spacious and richly furnished rooms 
on the second floor we made our headquarters for 
seven days. At sunset we went on to the flat roof 
of the hotel, from which we could plainly see and 
readily locate almost every prominent object in and 
about the city. The Valley of Gihon, with its upper 

153 


154 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


and lower pools, overlooked by the walls of our hotel, 
the Valley of Hinnom, the Mount of Olives, Mount 
Scopus, the Joppa Gate, Tower of David, Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, Dome of the Rock, and many 
other objects with which we had become familiar 
by reading, were in plain view. A short walk along 
David Street, as the night closed upon us, completed 
our day’s work, and we retired to rest with a strong 
feeling of satisfaction and thankfulness that in the 
providence of God we had been brought thus far on 
our long journey. Though this was the second day 
of July, the night was delightfully cool, and we slept 
under blankets. At 8 o’clock next morning the ther¬ 
mometer in the shade registered only 65 degrees. 
This fact shows the folly of the notion entertained 
by most people that Palestine can not be visited dur¬ 
ing the summer season without great discomfort and 
even danger. 

Jerusalem is perched on limestone hills, 2.589 feet 
above the level of the sea,and the surrounding coun¬ 
try mainly consists of hills on hills, mountains on 
mountains,rocky, bare and dreary, and valleys (called 
wadies) running in every direction The appearance 
of the city is somewhat peculiar, and, to most peo¬ 
ple, disappointing. A fast walker could go outside 
the walls and walk entirely around Jerusalem in an 
hour, provided too many dogs and beggars are not 
in the way; and yet, owing to the unevenness of the 
ground in some places, he would have to walk much 
farther than the actual distance on a level. The 
walls are two and one-half miles in circumference, 
















































































































JERUSALEM, FROM THE NORTH 
















IN JERUSALEM 


155 


and the city,therefore,covers only about two hundred 
and nine acres of ground. Of course, this estimate 
does not include the new Jerusalem, comprising 
mainly the European suburb on the northwestern 
part of the wall. This suburb alone is now a consid¬ 
erable town, and in it are located the Consulates of 
Europe and America, the Russian property and vari¬ 
ous other important buildings. The houses in the 
old city are generally two stories high, are strongly 
built of stone, are whitewashed or plastered on the 
outside and from the centre of many of the flat roofs 
rise small white domes of stone, reminding one of 
huge inverted teacups, and allowing ample room to 
walk all around these domes on the roof, or among 
them when more than one dome occupies the same 
roof, which is sometimes the case. Viewed from 
an elevated position outside the walls, the city ap¬ 
pears small, decidedly knobby, and the houses are 
thrown together in such a compact and confused mass 
that no sign of a street can be seen. The monotony 
is greatly relieved by the few tall domes, towers and 
minarets scattered over the city. The finest view 
of Jerusalem is obtained from the Mount of Olives; 
and seen from this point in the break of day and the 
rising sun, as we once saw it, it is really beautiful. 

The walls are about thirty-eight feet high, have 
thirty-four towers on them, and are pierced by eight 
gates, all of which are open except one. Starting 
from the west side and walking entirely around the 
outside of the walls, leaving the city on your right, 
you pass the following gates in the order named: 


156 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Joppa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod’s 
Gate, St. Stephen’s Gate, Golden Gate (now walled 
up), Dung Gate and Zion Gate. Most of these gates 
are guarded day and night by Turkish sentinels, and 
about them large numbers of the heterogeneous peo¬ 
ple congregate to talk, lounge, beg, steal and trans¬ 
act business. There is one notable exception. Next 
to the last-named gate in the above-named list, the 
name of which is rather significant, has no sentinel, 
and even the beggar, who seems to have a certain 
degree of pleasure in wallowing in a limited amount 
of filth, has for sufficient reasons forsaken this gate. 
With some difficulty we managed to pass through this 
gate once, and it is hardly necessary to inform travel¬ 
lers that once will be sufficient. 

The money-changers are numerous about the Joppa 
Gate, and also along the principal streets; and judg¬ 
ing from their efforts to cheat us when getting a 
sovereign turned into the currency of the country, 
they have not improved much since our Saviour drove 
them out of the temple. We felt like following his 
example, if we had only possessed the whip of cords 
and the courage to use it. And this leads me to say 
that nearly every kind of money is in circulation in 
this country. The money puzzle was great enough 
in Egypt, but it is worse in Palestine. Your best 
way out of the difficulty is to get your money changed 
at the banks of Cook & Son, and make your pay¬ 
ments and gifts through your dragoman. It i 3 also 
well to keep one eye on the dragoman. All Ameri¬ 
cans who visit Palestine are thought by the people 


IN JERUSALEM 


157 


there to be rich, and hence the sole interest of the 
beggars is to induce the traveller to empty out his 
pockets, and, having seized the contents, they 
straightway proceed to pull him to pieces, preserv¬ 
ing the bits as reminders of the good time they have 
had. One Arab outside the walls of the city, away 
from observation, became so persistent in his de¬ 
mands for bakhshish as to threaten violence, and I 
had to beat him off with the butt end of my umbrella. 
This erroneous notion of Americans is generated and 
perpetuated by the foolish action of some travellers 
who sow their money broadcast among the people at 
the expense and annoyance of their less fortunate 
brethren who follow them. Such people ought to 
learn a lesson from the mistake of a preacher in 
Egypt during our visit there. On leaving Cairo a 
half-dozen Egyptian girls gathered about him with 
their little water bottles on their heads, hoping to 
accompany him and sell him water. To get rid of 
them, as he thought, he stood them in a row and 
supplied them liberally with bakhshish. But judge 
of his surprise when this act was immediately noised 
abroad and his half-dozen became several times that 
number, who followed him about the country mak¬ 
ing his life a burden. Poor man! I hope he reached 
home in safety, a wiser if not a better man in con¬ 
sequence of his rich experience with Egyptian water 
girls. As a rule bakhshish should never be given, 
except in consideration of some service rendered. 

In my next letter I hope to get back to Jerusalem 
and tell you about what I saw on the inside of the 
walls. 


LETTER XXVII. 


INSIDE THE WALLS. 

In looking on Jerusalem as it now stands, it is well 
to remember that we are not looking on the identical 
city which David, Solomon, Nehemiah, Herod, Jesus, 
and the apostles saw. While the eternal hills, val¬ 
leys and plains surrounding the city are the identical 
ones seen by the eyes and trodden by the feet of the 
Jewish patriarchs, kings, prophets, apostles and first 
Christians, the city itself, from the Salem of Abra¬ 
ham’s day to the Jerusalem of the present, has been 
subjected to no fewer than twenty-seven sieges, aud 
undergone many changes. Indeed, there are here 
eight cities piled on top of one another. It is true 
that in Jerusalem are found many relics of the former 
cities; and when we couple this fact with the addi¬ 
tional one, namely, that the customs, costumes and 
architecture of this Oriental people remain the same 
from age to age, we may feel a satisfaction in the 
thought that the Jerusalem of to-day, on which we 
are looking, is practically the Jerusalem of Solomon 
and of Jesus. 

With this thought before us, let us enter this in¬ 
teresting city, about which cluster so many sacred 
memories and hallowed associations, and examine 

158 





INSIDE THE WALLS 


150 


its streets, bazaars, principal buildings and other 
curious and instructive objects. We will pass in 
through the Joppa gate, close to the tower of David, 
guarded by a Turkish sentinel standing erect with 
gun in hand, through which crowds of people, cam¬ 
els and donkeys are constantly coming and going. 
We do not pass straight through the wall like going 
through an ordinary gate; but we enter a square 
tower built into the wall, turn to the left and pass 
into the city. It is like entering a square house at 
the front door and passing into the back yard through 
a side door on the left. The new gate recently made 
in the north wall is an exception to this form of gate, 
being cut straight through the wall. We saw only 
one vehicle inside the walls, and that was Cook’s car¬ 
riage that took us from the Grand New Hotel, just 
inside the Joppa Gate, to the railway station. The 
streets are too narrow to admit wheeled vehicles with¬ 
in them. There are narrow sidewalks on David Street, 
extending a short distance from the Joppa Gate. 
But for the most part the streets of Jerusalem have 
no sidewalks, are very narrow, being only from six 
to twelve feet wide, and, with few exceptions, are 
very crooked. As you walk along some of the streets 
you suddenly come to what appears to be the end of 
the street; but you may turn a right angle and then 
again to the left and continue your walk Only four 
of the principal streets are dignified with names. 
These are David Street, Via Dolorosa, Christian and 
Damascus Streets. Most of the others are mere 
lanes, and so winding that when you start in at one 


160 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


end you do not know where you will come out at the 
other end. If you get out at all without difficulty 
you may be thankful. The streets are paved with 
stones of many sizes irregularly set, round tops and 
exceedingly slick, so it is with great difficulty for 
you, without the foot of a goat or an Arab, to main¬ 
tain your equilibrium. The passage through them 
is made still more difficult and gloomy from the 
fact that much of these streets is covered with mat¬ 
ting,arched over, or houses or backyards built across 
them,with now and then a grated window through 
which the feeble light is admitted from above. It 
is like going through a coal mine, with the light de¬ 
scending through the shafts to guide you. 

But the worst feature of all remains to be told. 
These streets are frequently crowded with every¬ 
thing that lives and moves in Palestine, from the 
highest dignified human official down to the lowest 
species of mangy cur, and also the creeping things 
with which both man and beast are here unfortu¬ 
nately compelled to associate. Men, women, chil¬ 
dren, camels, donkeys, goats, sheep, dogs, etc., etc., 
are all here, pushing, gesticulating, shouting, cry¬ 
ing, groaning, braying, bleating, barking, fighting 
and kicking. Here come a number of camels with 
uplifted heads and a contemptuous curl on the lip, 
swinging back and forth their great loads of brush, 
wheat, salt, stone or other marketable articles, while 
the pedestrians flatten themselves against the walls 
to get out of the way, and the bazaar tenders, and 
fruit and vegetable mongers squatted by their wares, 


INSIDE THE WALLS 


161 


draw their feet under them to prevent their being 
chipped by the sharp hoof of a donkey or pressed by 
the spongy foot of a camel. 

Here, next, we must give place to a drove of don¬ 
keys with their respective burdens, and an Arab 
larger than the donkey as a driver, perched on the 
smallest one, far back near its tail, swinging his big 
feet, which nearly touch the ground, and giving the 
poor animal a dig with his heels every other step it 
takes. Our dragoman could not tell us why these 
big Arabs always select the smallest donkey on 
which to ride, notwithstanding its back may be raw, 
its ribs visible under the skin, and its hind legs 
trembling under the great weight placed upon it. 
Our own view is that these fellows are too lazy to 
climb on to a larger one, and then,if they go to sleep 
and fall off, there is not much danger of spoiling 
their nap or bruising their flesh. These donkeys pos¬ 
sess at least one trait of human character, for they, 
too, have learned to crowd. If a little donkey comes 
to a crowd of people in the street, he looks for a hole 
into which he can thrust his nose, and then giving 
that member of his body a few side pushes, he soon 
makes an opening large enough through which to 
pass his whole body. I know' a lady w r ho got into 
trouble more than once by supposing that she could 
compete successfully in the pushing business with a 
small Jerusalem donkey. On one occasion, as I took 
the lead to make an opening for the “weaker vessel,” 
I missed her for a moment, and then returned a few 
steps in time to see her emerging from an Arab ma- 


162 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


trou’s big basket of green beans. The donkey made 
no apologies. 

But the climax is reached when the different kinds 
and degrees of odors in these city tunnels mingle in 
one inharmonious whole, which then comes in con¬ 
tact with the olfactory nerves. 

The bazaars which open out in the walls on both 
sides of the streets are insignificant affairs. They 
are so small that the owner frequently sits in the 
centre of his shop, and, without rising, can put his 
hand on almost any article he has for sale. Some¬ 
times he stretches himself on his rug and goes fast 
asleep, and if you wish to make a purchase you must 
first wake him up and give him time to scratch his 
eyes open with his fingers. More than once we woke 
up these fellows to make a purchase. These little 
shops usually display a mixture of Oriental and 
European articles for sale. Sometimes a shop made 
a specialty of a' single line of goods. One bazaar 
supplied incense, which is in great demand in the 
Holy City, and from which we obtained samples. 
Another one had sandals, old shoes, and goat-skin 
water-bottles; and still another sold pure olive soap, 
etc. The bakers, silversmiths and money-changers 
are also found at intervals along the streets. In 
the new bazaar on David Street.near the Joppa gate, 
are some more pretentions shops on the European 
plan, in which are sold almost every imaginable 
thing that can be manufactured out of the fine¬ 
grained olive wood of the country. Work-boxes, 
napkin-rings, egg-cups, paper-knives, candlesticks, 


INSIDE THE WALLS 


168 


spectacle-cases, pocket-books, and other things too 
numerous to mention, are all here for sale. New 
Testaments, and beautiful albums containing pressed 
wild flowers from various parts of Palestine, artis¬ 
tically arranged, are bound in this wood. We saw 
near these shops a number of respectable grocery 
stores; and on this same street is the wheat market, 
in w r hich we stood more than once, watching the 
buyers and sellers literally filling the Scripture re¬ 
quirements in giving a good measure pressed down, 
and shaken together, and running over 

The present population of Jerusalem is estimated 
at 40,000; and it is divided into four quarters, 
namely, Christian, Armenian, Mohammedan, and 
Jewish. Even the dogs seem to have their quarters, 
and woe be to that dog w’hich ventures into the quar¬ 
ters of his neighbors. The people’s quarters are not 
quite so exclusive. 

Reader, if you have accompanied us in our w alk 
through the Jerusalem streets, let us take a long 
breath of fresh air before we turn aside to see other 
sights. 


LETTER XXVIII. 


A VISIT TO THE TRADITIONAL CALVARY. 

While I here place all I have to say of Calvary 
under the head of U A Visit to the Traditional Cal¬ 
vary,” yet, strictly speaking, I should say visits, 
for we visited both the traditional, and what we be¬ 
lieve to be the real Calvary, several times and stud¬ 
ied them carefully at our leisure during our two 
weeks’ stay in Jerusalem. 

To us there is no more sacred spot on earth than 
Calvary. But where is Calvary? Tradition tells us 
that the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary and his 
burial in Joseph’s new tomb, both took place on the 
spot now covered by what is called the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre, which stands almost in the heart of 
the city, two hundred yards from the nearest wall, 
which is on the north. This tradition carries us 
back to the commencement of the third century, and 
it gives us a very interesting account of how the 
site was fixed on as the true place of the crucifixion 
and burial of our Saviour. 

According to one version of the legend, Helena, 
the mother of Constantine, in the fourth century, 
had a divine vision, in which the true spot of the 
crucifixion was pointed out to her. Prompted and 
164 


A VISTT TO THE TRADITIONAL CALVARY 165 


directed by this vision,the Empress made a journey 
to the Holy City, and set men to digging for the 
cross, while she sat- by from day to day watching 
with intense interest the proceedings. Eventually 
three crosses were found, with nails, superscription, 
crown of thorns, and other relics. But there was a 
difficulty in ascertaining which one of the three 
crosses was the true one. But this difficulty was also 
soon solved. A noble lady in Jerusalem lay very ill, 
and to her bedside the crosses were ordered to be 
carried one at a time. When the first and second 
were brought she gave a loud scream, and was about 
to go into convulsions; but when she touched the 
third one she was instantly and miraculously cured. 
Others say one of the crosses spoke to the Empress, 
by which she knew it was the true cross. This cross 
has been split up, and parts of it are on exhibition 
at different places. Reader, what do you think of 
the testimony? 

It is, however, an historical fact that as early as 
the commencement of the fourth century, a sump¬ 
tuously decorated church was erected, consisting of 
a building over the supposed Holy Sepulchre, and 
of the basilica dedicated to the sign of the cross; and 
from that day to the present a building in some form 
has stood over this sacred spot. The present Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre consists of a cluster of churches, 
chapels, tombs, caverns, etc., thrown together in a 
confused mass under one roof, the whole being sur¬ 
mounted by two domes, the larger one towering above 
the surrounding buildings and becoming a conspicu- 


166 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ous object in viewing the city from the adjoining 
hills. These churches and chapels with their furnish¬ 
ings, sacred stations in them, etc., belong to the 
Greeks, Latins, Armenians and others. 

In front of the main entrance is a court, a little 
lower than the street, in which may be seen, sitting 
on their mats, a number of venders of rosaries, relics 
and other articles, with a sprinkling of beggars about 
the corners. But our hearts are now becoming too 
hard for beggars to profit much by their piteous 
pleadings for bakhshish, and so with ears which are 
dull of hearing we press on towards the entrance to 
the great building. 

On entering the door we notice to our left a num¬ 
ber of Turkish soldiers, placed here to keep the peace 
between the rival sects. This is a sad comment upon 
the influence of the cross and of the tomb of the 
gentle Saviour of mankind, on the hearts of these 
superstitious people. The next object that arrests 
our attention, almost in front of the door and near 
the floor, is the Stone of Unction, on which the body 
of Jesus is said to have been laid for anointing when 
taken down from the cross. This marble slab is about 
eight and one-half feet long and four feet wide, 
and over it the Armenians, Latins,Greeks and Copts 
burn their lamps and candles. We saw pilgrims 
kissing the stone, and some of them were measuring 
their winding sheets by it with the view of making 
them the same length as the stone. How this sheet 
is to benefit them in death and the resurrection, we 
did not learn. About thirteen yards to the left is 


A VISIT TO THE TRADITIONAL CALVARY 


167 


a small enclosure marking the spot where Mary stood 
watching Joseph and Nicodemus anoint the body of 
Jesus for burial. A few more steps bring us into the 
rotunda, and here, under the centre of the great 
dome, is situated the Holy Sepulchre itself, which 
lies within a small hexagon chapel, about twenty-six 
feet long and eighteen broad. The sepulchre has two 
chambers, the antechamber, which we now enter, 
being the Angels’ Chapel, in the centre of which is 
the stone which the angels on the morning of the 
resurrection rolled away from the door of the tomb. 
In this chapel are burning fifteen copper lamps. We 
next stoop considerably and pass through a low door¬ 
way into the sepulchre proper, which is only about 
six feet square, surmounted by a sort of dome serv¬ 
ing as a chimney, through which the smoke escapes 
from the lamps. On the right of the entrance is a 
slab about five and one-half feet long and three feet 
above the floor. This is the tomb. Over this are 
forty-three golden lamps, which are kept constantly 
burning. Four of these lamps belong to the Copts, 
and the other thirty-nine are divided equally among 
the Greeks, Latins and Armenians. A Greek priest 
was replenishing some of the lamps during one of our 
visits. The marble slab, and also the stone which 
the angels rolled away, are worn by the lips of the 
pilgrims. We saw numbers of people bowing before 
these stones and kissing them. Some of them even 
prostrated themselves on the floor, kissing it at short 
intervals as they dragged themselves along. Such 
devotion to Christ, turned into the right channel, 


168 OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 

would be a great power in the conversion of the 
world. 

Just back of the sepulchre is the chapel of the 
Copts, a very meagre affair; and near this is a grotto 
with tombs, into which we descend with lighted 
candles. Here are said to be the tombs of Nicode- 
mus and Joseph of Arimathaea. There can be no 
doubt that these are really ancient Jewish tombs. 
Near the sepulchre, on the north, we enter an open 
court, and in the centre of this is a spot in the floor 
marked by marble slabs inlaid and radiating from 
a centre stone like a star. This is the place where 
Jesus stood when he appeared to Mary Magdalene. 
The spot where Mary stood is also marked near by. 
The Latin Church, the Greek Church, the Chapel 
of Division of the Vestments, the Chapel of the 
Crown of Thorns, and a number of other chapels, 
are all clustered about here on the same floor. The 
Greek Church is the largest and most richly decorated 
of them all. In the centre of its marble pavement 
is a short column, which stands in the exact centre 
of the earth! It is well, before completing our journey 
around the earth, that we pause a moment at its 
very centre. 

From the centre of the earth we now descend 
twenty-nine steps into the Chapel of Helena, and 
then down thirteen more steps into the Chapel of 
the Finding of the Cross. Here is where the three 
crosses were found, and a niche in the wall over¬ 
looking this cave is the place where the Empress sat 
watching the workmen while searching for these 
treasures. 


A VISIT TO THE TRADITIONAL CALVARY 160 


Returning to the main floor and examining the 
column to which Jesus was bound when scourged, 
we ascend eighteen steps on to a second floor, which 
is only fourteen and a half feet above the floor on 
which the sepulchre stands. Here is Calvary. In 
the end of this chapel is an altar under- which is a 
hole through a marble slab faced with silver, in 
which the cross of Christ stood. Five feet to each 
side of this hole are two more holes, in which the 
crosses of the two thieves stood, that of the penitent 
thief being on the right. Four and one-half feet to 
the right of Christ’s cross is the rent in the rock made 
by the earthquake at the time of the crucifixion. 
The rent is covered by a brass slide, and is said to 
reach to the centre of the earth (not the centre we 
visited), but which, in fact, is only six inches deep. 
The slide may be pushed to one side, and if you 
are a doubting Thomas you are permitted to thrust 
in your hand and believe. A little farther to the 
right is a beautiful altar behind which is a picture 
of the Virgin, set in diamonds. All the adornments 
about these altars are of the richest and most profuse 
description. Also, on this floor, there are some 
small chapels which I will not take time and space 
to describe. 

The reader must not forget, however, that Adam 
and Eve and Melchizedek were all buried here under 
these crosses, and the chapel of Adam and the tomb 
of Melchizedek mark the sacred spots. It is said 
when Christ was crucified his blood flowed through 
the cleft in the rock on to the head of Adam,and im- 


170 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


mediately the “first man” was restored to life. 
Whether or not he is still living we were not in¬ 
formed. 

There is one other thing of which I wish to speak 
before leaving this curious Church, and that is the 
Easter Festival. During this festival, Jerusalem and 
the Church of the Sepulchre are crowded with pil¬ 
grims of every nationality, and both in the Church 
and on th^ streets are enacted many disorderly and 
disgraceful scenes. 

In former times the Latins represented Christ en¬ 
tering Jerusalem on an ass from the village of Beth- 
phage, and even now they send to Gaza for palm 
branches, which they consecrate on Palm Sunday, 
and distribute among the people. But the greatest 
farce of all is the so-called Holy Fire, which they 
claim comes down from heaven. On one side of the 
sepulchre, there is a hole through the wall a few 
inches in circumference. On Easter eve when the 
Church is crowded with the pilgrims, and the galler¬ 
ies filled with strangers, most of whom have spent 
the previous night in the Church, the Greek patri¬ 
arch enters the Chapel of the Sepulchre, while the 
priests pray without, and the people are in the ut¬ 
most suspense. At length the patriarch who is on 
the inside of the Sepulchre alone, passes the fire out 
through the hole, and then follows an indescribable 
tumult. Every one endeavors to have his wax taper 
lighted first by the holy fire which has just descended 
from heaven in answer to prayer. In a few sec¬ 
onds, amidst the uproar, which is always accompanied 


A VISIT TO THE TRADITIONAL CALVARY 171 


with fighting, the whole building is illuminated 
with burning tapers. Formerly the Latins joined 
in this monstrous piece of deception in the Christian 
name, but at present it is managed by the Greeks 
alone. 

In 1834 a terrible catastrophe occurred in connec¬ 
tion with this festival. There were more than 6,000 
people in the Church, when suddenly a riot broke 
out. The Turkish guards who are aways present on 
these occasions, supposing they were being attacked, 
made a desperate resistance, and in the scuffle three 
hundred pilgrims were either killed by the soldiers, 
trampled to death, or suffocated. A German gentle¬ 
man who has resided in Jerusalem several years, told 
me that he had talked with the Greek priests about 
this wicked and dangerous imposition, which they 
frankly acknowledged. When asked why they per¬ 
petuated it, their reply was that the superstitious 
people demanded it, it brought the pilgrims to the 
holy shrine, and benefited the city and the Church 
financially. Verily the whip of the Master is still 
needed with which to drive out these heartless hypo¬ 
crites. Almost every foot of this great building is 
occupied with “sacred” spots which are visited at 
regular intervals by companies of richly-robed,sanc¬ 
timonious priests, and kissed by millions of ignorant 
people. Let us turn aside for something more sub¬ 
stantial and refreshing. 


LETTER XXIX. 


A VISIT TO THE TRUE CALVARY. 

I have called the site of the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre the traditional Calvary because the evi¬ 
dence that our Saviour was crucified and buried there 
is mainly traditional. The scholarship which has 
blindly accepted this tradition for ages past is com¬ 
pelled by modern research to give place to a more 
scientific and scriptural view of the question. That 
Jesus was crucified outside the city walls, is a fact 
definitely settled by the Scriptures, and it seems 
equally certain that the burial also took place out¬ 
side the city, for John says, “The sepulchre was 
nigh at hand,” John xix. 42. 

Now, in locating the place of the crucifixion of 
Christ, there are at least six facts which must be 
taken into consideration: 

1. It took place in a garden. In John xix. 41 
we read: “Now, in the place where he was crucified, 
there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepul¬ 
chre, wherein was never man yet laid.” There is no 
evidence that such a garden ever existed where the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands. 

2. It must be a place called “a skull ” “And they 
bring him unto the place Golgotha which is, being 
interpreted, the place of a skull.” Mark xv. 22. 

172 


A VISIT TO THE TRUE CALVARY 


173 


3. It must have been near some public thorough¬ 
fare. “And they that passed by reviled him, wag¬ 
ging their heads. ” Matt, xxvii. 39. 

4 It was near the city. “For the place where 
Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city.” John 
xix. 20. 

5. In Matt, xxviii. 11, it says: “Now when they 
were going, behold, some of the watch came into the 
city,” showing that the sepulchre was outside of the 
walls. 

6. And finally, in Heb. xiii. 11, 12, Paul says: 
“For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought 
into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are 
burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, 
that he might sanctify the people with his own 
blood, suffered without the gate.' 1 ' 1 

Now it is easy to be seen that these descriptions 
are not filled by the site of the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre, which is situated almost in the heart of 
the city, two hundred yards from the wall at the 
nearest point. Nor is there any evidence, as some 
have contended, that the wall of the city at the time 
of Christ stood so as to place the site of this Church 
on the outside of the city. Where, then, is the gen¬ 
uine Calvary? 

At the north of the town, a little distance from 
the Damascus Gate, there is a hill, in shape resem¬ 
bling a skull, and in the southern face of which is 
situated the Grotto of Jeremiah, which, in the opin¬ 
ion of many modern scholars, meets every require¬ 
ment of the Scriptures as the place of the crucifixion. 


174 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Sir J. W. Dawson, in his recent able work entitled 
“Modern Science in Bible Lands,” after stating sev¬ 
eral objections to the traditional site, says: “All 
these considerations militate against the claim of 
the present Church to be on the site either of the 
crucifixion, or of the tomb of Jesus, while the points 
stated in the gospels, though evidently not intended 
to fix the site as a holy place, are sufficient to indi¬ 
cate that the knoll outside the Damascus Gate, now 
used as a little Moslem cemetery, and at one time 
the public place of execution, is the real Golgotha, 
or ‘place of a skull,’ to which it also has a claim on 
account of its singular form, like that of a low¬ 
browed calvarium with two sockets formed by old 
tombs excavated in its front. This strikes every one 
when it is seen in certain lights. I have advocated 
the claims of this site in my little book,‘Eygpt and 
Syria,’ for reasons which will be found in that work; 
but I shall here quote with some slight changes from 
a recent admirable summary of the facts in a paper 
by my friend, Dr. Selah Merrill, and shall add some 
notes on the geology of this site of so great religious 
and historical interest.” The following are among 
the lines quoted from Dr. Merrill: “For some years 
past there has been a growing conviction that the 
hill in which Jeremiah’s Grotto is shown, situated a 
little to the northeast of the Damascus Gate, satisfied 
the conditions as to the site of Calvary better than 
any other spot in or around Jerusalem. Indeed, a 
large number of competent scholars have already 
accepted this hill as Golgotha. Hundreds of Chris- 


A VISIT TO THE TRUE CALVARY 


175 


tian tourists visit the place every year, and few of 
them go away unconvinced that both the arguments 
and the strong probability are in favor of this being 
regarded as the true site of the crucifixion.” Major 
C. R. Conder, who is very high authority on Pales¬ 
tine, also says: “The probable site of Calvary was 
first pointed out by the present author in 1879, in 
consequence of the survival of a Jewish tradition as 
to the ‘place of stoning’ (Mishna. Sanhed. 6:1) or of 
public execution. It is a remarkable knoll, outside 
the third wall, on the north of the city, and certainly 
never included within the limits of Jerusalem. It 
is now commonly known as El Heidhemiye\ or by 
Christians called ‘Jeremiah’s Grotto’—a fit spot for 
a public spectacle, with a natural amphitheatre of 
slopes around it, and in full view of the temple and 
the second wall. . . This site has become gen¬ 

erally accepted as the true site of Golgotha, that is, 
Calvary. ” 

We were particularly impressed with the appear¬ 
ance of this hill and its surroundings as a suitable 
place for public executions, and especially the cruci¬ 
fixion of Jesus. There is no mistaking the skull 
shape of the hill, even what corresponds to the sock¬ 
ets of the eyes being clearly seen in the southern 
face of the knoll. Indeed, every detail about this 
hill so strikingly corresponds with the gospel narra¬ 
tives respecting the place of the crucifixion that you 
seem to see the whole tragic scene transpiring be¬ 
fore you. Though the hill is only about fifty feet 
above the land immediately about it, it is aconspic- 


176 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


uous object; for, as Dawson fitly concludes: “It is 
near to the city, between the ancient roads leading 
from the Damascus Gate and Herod’s Gate, not dis 
tant from the site of the Pretorium and having gar¬ 
dens and tombs close to it. It is also so situated as 
to command a view of the whole city and the temple, 
and of the amphitheatre of surrounding hills, and 
there is no other place which fulfills all these condi¬ 
tions. ” The fact that the summit and the northern 
slope of the hill are covered with Mohammedan 
graves has preserved to the Christian world, I am 
thankful to know, this spot in its natural condition. 
As we gathered a few late flowers from the place 
about where the cross of Christ may have stood, a 
woman, heavily veiled, came and sat a long time by 
one of the tombs not far away. 

Having settled the place of the crucifixion within 
the limits of probability, let us look for the sepul¬ 
chre which, according to John, “was nigh at hand.” 
We have not far to go. About sixty yards to the west 
of the spot of the crucifixion, in a low cliff, there is 
an ancient Jewish tomb which seems to fill the gos¬ 
pel descriptions of the tomb of Joseph. It is in a 
garden, and in a place where a garden has appar¬ 
ently existed from the first century to the present 
day. It is “hewn in the rock.” It would require a 
“great stone” rolled to the door to close it. As poor 
Jews could not own such valuable tombs, it must 
have belonged to a rich man. And, finally, in the 
estimation of competent scholars who have carefully 
examined it, its interior is “precisely the style of 


A VISIT TO THE TRUE CALVARY 


177 


tomb into which we may suppose the apostles stooped 
down and looked on the morning of the resurrection. n 
After visiting this hill and tomb several times, we 
came away thoroughly satisfied that on this skull- 
hill Jesus was crucified, and that he was buried in 
Joseph’s new tomb near at hand, from which he arose 
on the third day according to the Scriptures 

On Sunday before leaving the Holy City we went 
out on to this hill to see the sun set and to meditate. 
The view was a charming one. At our feet on the 
south lay the city, quieting into peaceful slumber, 
beyond which the hills toward Bethlehem were' vis¬ 
ible. To our left was the Mount of Olives, over which 
the full moon was rising in all its glory. To our 
right was the New Jerusalem, from behind which 
the setting sun was throwing its soft rays over the 
Mount of Olives; and behind us was Mount Scopus 
with some handsome European residences on its 
summit. Amidst these beautiful surroundings we 
sat down, read the account of the crucifixion given 
in the gospels, and tried to enter into a realization 
of the sacred scenes which transpired on this spot. 


LETTER XXX. 


DOWN TO JERICHO. 

Yes, it is down in earnest. When the Bible says 
down it means down, and when it says up it means 
up. The Bible in speaking of the relative levels of 
the country, as in all other respects, has never been 
known to make a mistake. This shows that the 
writers were on the spot, that they were well ac¬ 
quainted with the country about which they wrote, 
and that they were guided by inspiration. In their 
faithfulness to all details, they have done what the 
learned, experienced and painstaking authors of our 
best guide-books have never been able to do. We 
read in the good Book that u a certain man went 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among 
thieves.” We were more fortunate than this man; 
we went down to Jericho, and did not fall among 
thieves. The reason was obvious. We made friends 
of the thieves by engaging as our guard the chief 
thief of the tribe. 

Before beginning the journey let us go upon the 
Mount of Olives and have a look toward Jericho, 
which is distant from Jerusalem about nineteen miles. 
From this point as you look toward the east, the 
northern end of the Dead Sea, the wide plain of the 
178 


DOWN TO JERICHO 


179 


Jordan, the line of green trees bordering the Jordan 
as it winds its way through the plain till lost in the 
sea, and the mountains of Moab beyond, crowned 
with Pisgah’s height, are all in plain view. The 
sea and plain are near 4,000 feet below you, making 
the descent from Jerusalem very-rapid; and through 
the exceedingly transparent atmosphere of Palestine 
they appear so close to you that you imagine you 
can walk down to them in half an hour. 

We made the start from Howard’s Hotel, outside 
the Jaffa Gate, at 2 p. m., under a July sun; and 
our equipments were few and simple, but a trifle 
grotesque. The two big trotters and the dragoman 
were mounted on Syrian horses in European saddles, 
and wearing broad-brimmed pith helmets, flying 
puggeries and green glasses. The glasses we found 
very hot to the eyes, and much of the time we dis¬ 
pensed with them. The little trotter rode a long¬ 
eared donkey of his choice; the sheikh of the district 
through which we were to pass, armed with carbine, 
revolver and dagger, rode a sleek,spirited bay mare, 
with fantastical bridle, in common with the rest of 
us; and the muleteer was perched on top of our bag¬ 
gage, etc., thrown across the back of a large mule. 

We went single file, for these Syrian horses, being 
used to following the narrow paths of the country, 
will go no other way. Our order of procession was 
usually as follows: The armed sheikh taking the 
lead, the dragoman, the male trotter, the female 
trotter, the little trotter, and the Arab muleteer. 
Our horses were poor walkers, hard trotters, and 


180 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


harder gallopers, and so lazy that they seemed ut¬ 
terly indifferent to the keen strokes of the whip. 
But they are sensitive to the bite of flies, and for 
th ; s reason you need to be constantly on your guard. 
These horses will suddenly stop and with their hind 
feet kick the flies off the top of their heads without 
the least concern for the comfort of the rider. If 
they would kick with both feet at once,the vigorous 
process of dispensing with the annoying flies might 
be tolerated. But the kicking is done with first one 
foot and then the other; and all the shouting and 
whipping you may do will not alter the awkward 
situation till the process is completed. The mule, 
w r e noticed, made better progress, for he usually went 
forward on three legs while he kicked off the flies 
with the fourth one. Our donkey paid but little at¬ 
tention to the flies, for he was never known to flinch 
or kick. But he was particularly careful about the 
treatment of his large ears. His rider took to amus¬ 
ing himself by tickling these appendages with his 
riding stick, and the donkey becoming indignant at 
such an insult, bowed his head between his fore feet 
and set the little trotter off in the road. 

We rode around the north wall of the city, leav¬ 
ing Calvary on the left, crossed the Kidron, passed 
the garden of Gethsemane, wound around the south¬ 
ern brow of the Mount of Olives, and went close by 
Bethany. I asked our dragoman why we needed the 
sheikh escort, seeing that there was little danger of 
our falling among thieves on our way to Jericho. He 
said the real thief was the sheikh himself, who, if 


DOWN TO JERICHO 


181 


not paid a sum for the privilege of escorting us 
through his territory, would stir up his lawless bands 
and make it lively and dangerous for us. All the 
wire-pulling money-makers do not live in America. 
With this rich old thief riding before us to inform 
his allies that he had contracted with us for a safe 
journey, we were in no danger whatever while in 
his country. 

Half of the way to Jericho the road is a beautiful 
carriage-way; but it would be dangerous, if not im¬ 
possible, for a wheeled vehicle to pass over the re¬ 
mainder of the distance. We soon passed the Foun¬ 
tain of the Apostles, out of which the apostles must, 
have drunk when passing that way. The water bursts 
out of a stone wall, the remains of an old house, and 
falls into a stone trough. It is cool and refreshing 
and is the only spring on the road. 

We are now in the midst of the “wilderness of 
Judea,” and it is rightly named. Barren rocky hills 
and deep valleys are seen everywhere, with here and 
there a herd of hungry sheep and goats nibbling at 
the dry grass between the stones, the shepherd going 
before them as the Scriptures describe it. All the 
herds we saw in Palestine were mixed, which made 
us think of the churches, and the division between 
the sheep and the goats that will take place at the 
judgment day. In some places the ground was lit¬ 
erally covered with locusts, which were making a 
peculiar grating noise. Near Jericho we procured 
a sample of this food of John the Baptist, and brought 
it home with us. We met at short intervals large 


182 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


numbers of camels and donkeys from beyond the 
Jordan, laden with wheat for the Jerusalem markets 
and driven by fierce-looking Arabs. 

Half-way to Jericho we came to the place where 
tradition has localized the parable of the Good Sa¬ 
maritan. It was certainly a fit place for the abode 
of robbers, and robberies have taken place about 
here. A newly erected khan stands here to the left 
of the road for the accommodation of travellers. It 
stands on a very old foundation, probably the foun¬ 
dation of the inn to which the Good Samaritan is 
said to have taken the unfortunate man who fell 
among the thieves. On passing through a gate in 
the front wall you enter a large open court. The 
accommodation is only suitable for the natives. 

We next find ourselves riding along the edge of a 
precipice, over which we look and see a small stream 
flowing in the bed of the ravine hundreds of feet 
below us. It makes us dizzy to look into this ravine; 
and in places if our horses were to go too near the 
edge and slip over they would almost have a clear 
fall to the bottom. This is the brook Cherith, in 
which Elijah was fed by the ravens; and away up 
over the brook in the opposite bluff is the Convent 
of the Raven, in which is kept the very raven that 
fed Elijah (it is dead now, I believe), and which you 
may see for a substantial sum! There are holes along 
in these bluffs in which monks sometimes live. Prob¬ 
ably no more fit place for the prophet to hide could 
have been found in all Palestine. A little farther 
on, a beautiful view of Jericho, the Dead Sea, the 


DOWN TO JERICHO 


188 


Jordan, the plain and the mountains beyond the 
Jordan burst upon us, and we rejoiced. 

Our road now broke down abruptly into the plain, 
and crossing the brook Cherith and riding through 
the valley of Achor, in which Achan was stoned, 
we entered Jericho at 7:80 p. m , tired and hungry, 
having been five and a half hours in the saddle. We 
put up over night at a small Russian hotel where we 
found everything remarkably clean, and a good bill 
of fare, including the first grapes of the season, 
which were several weeks earlier than this fruit in 
any other part of the Holy Land. We slept under 
Turkish silk quilts of rich, bright colors, which I 
verily believe Mrs. Trotter envies to this day. 

There are three Jerichos, all occupying different 
sites. The walls which surrounded the cities in the 
time of Joshua and of Herod, respectively, are still 
traceable. The present Jericho consists of a group 
of mud and stone hovels, inhabited by about 800 de¬ 
generate Arabs, and probably about the same num¬ 
ber of dogs. Our estimate of the number of dogs is 
made from their barking during the night. 

A single palm tree remains in this squalid village 
to remind us of the once beautiful “City of Palms.” 


LETTER XXXI. 


A VISIT TO THE DEAD SEA. 

The fourth day of July, 1894, with us was an active 
and intensely interesting day. We spent this Fourth 
at Jericho, the Dead Sea and the Jordan. We did 
not forget that this was our Independence Day in 
America; and although we carried the stars and 
stripes with us, we had but little time in which to 
display it, or to let off fire-works. It creates a strange 
sensation in the bosom of the loyal American to 
spend the Fourth under such peculiar circumstances. 
But surrounded as we were, with scenes among which 
had been manifested so often the wonderful works 
of God, and which were so closely associated with 
the world’s spiritual independence through Christ, 
we must confess that the Independence Day of our 
beloved country lost many of its charms. 

We arose at 5 a. m., took our breakfast on the 
balcony of our hotel, which was embowered in grape¬ 
vines and fragrant flowers, and started from Jericho 
to the Dead Sea in the cool of the morning. All 
along our journey from Australia we had been in¬ 
formed by European wiseacres, who had never seen 
Palestine, that on account of the intense heat in 
this low valley, it would be impossible for us to visit 
184 


A VISIT TO THE DEAD SEA 


185 


the Dead Sea and the Jordan during the summer 
months. But we neither believed their story nor 
acted on their advice. We had passed through the 
tropical heat of Ceylon and the Red Sea without 
harm, and we were quite prepared for the heat of the 
Jordan valley. We were not disappointed. The two 
days we spent in this valley we were fanned by a 
gentle breeze from the north, and the nights were 
delightfully cool. To be sure, at noon in the sun it 
was hot, but at no time did we suffer from the effects 
of the heat. We have experienced hotter weather 
both in America and Australia than we have experi¬ 
enced any time in Palestine. Indeed, we felt the heat 
more on the first fourth of July after our return 
home, than we did on the Fourth we spent in the 
valley of the Jordan. There are days, however, in 
the absence of any breeze, when the heat in this val¬ 
ley is very trying; and our dragoman told us of a 
number of bloated English beer-guzzlers who came 
very near dying from the effects of the heat here. 
Beer and the tropical sun are not congenial compan¬ 
ions in travel. 

At Jericho the Dead Sea seems quite near to you; 
but it is nevertheless about nine miles away. Our 
ride over the almost barren plain was a pleasant one, 
and we reached the sea at 8 a m. A few bushes and 
coarse grass bordering the branch from Elisha’s 
Fountain, and a few small thorn bushes scattered over 
the plain were to be seen along our way,and even these 
disappeared as we approached the sea; and the sandy 
ground, near the sea, over which we rode was spotted 


186 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


at intervals with a sprinkling of salt, left after the 
evaporation of the water. Of course we all went in 
for a bath, and instead of experiencing the unpleas¬ 
ant sensation from the effects of the salt water 
complained of by most travellers who have bathed in 
this sea, we pronounced it a very pleasant and re¬ 
freshing bath. The beautiful blue sea was calm, 
the beach pebbly, and the slope to the deep water, 
gradual. You can float on the water without effort. 
In fact, you can no more sink than a light log could 
sink. The difficulty is the body is lifted so far out 
of the w T ater that it is not easy to make headway 
swimming. But Mrs, Trotter, who is a fair swim¬ 
mer, was delighted with the buoyancy of the water. 

It is said that a horse ridden into the sea can not sink 
his body sufficiently in the water to enable him to 
swim, but will immediately turn over on his side, 
snort and struggle to regain and maintain his equi¬ 
librium. We did not try this experiment,as we had 
no horses to spare. But we verily believe that the 
only donkey of our company was so lazy that instead 
of struggling on going in, he would have stretched 
himself on the surface of the water and floated out to 
sea with the greatest complacency. We filled a small 
bottle with the water to bring home with us, and 
then we began to think more seriously of our sur¬ 
roundings 

This sea, which is known in the Bible as the Salt 
Sea, the East Sea, the Sea of the Plain, and later, 
the Dead Sea and the Sea of Lot, is in many respects 
the most remarkable and interesting sheet of water 


A VISIT TO THE DEAD SEA 


137 


in all the world. It is the lowest inland sea in the 
world, being 8,900 feet below the Mount of Olives, 
and 1,298 feet below the level of the Mediterranean 
Sea. It is forty-seven miles long, about ten miles 
wide, and its greatest depth is 1,810 feet Its sides 
are bordered with precipitous bluffs and mountains, 
varying in height from 500 to 8,000 feet, and a 
mountain of rock salt stretches for seven miles along 
its southwestern shore. This salt is of excellent 
quality, and is the salt principally found in the Je¬ 
rusalem markets. We procured a sample, and we 
have been asked since coming home if it is likely to 
be a piece of Lot’s wife. We leave that problem for 
the ‘‘higher critics” to solve. 

Into this sea it is estimated not less than six mil¬ 
lion tons of water are poured daily, mainly by the 
Jordan. For this enormous quantity of water there 
is no escape except by means of the extraordinary 
evaporation which is continually going on; and this 
evaporation leaves behind every substance which has 
been washed into the sea that constitutes saltness, 
and thus it is we have as a result in the Dead Sea 
water the heaviest and saltest sea water on the earth. 
You are also struck with the death-like appearance 
of every object about this sea. There is not a living 
thing to be seen in its waters or, with a few excep¬ 
tions, close to its shores. Even the fish which are 
floated down into it by the Jordan immediately die 
and are washed ashore. If any living thing exists 
in the Dead Sea, which is very doubtful, it is of a 
very low order, and has not yet been discovered. 


188 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Neither shells nor coral are found in it The ancients 
believed that not even a bird could fly across it. But 
this belief is evidently unfounded We saw anchored 
at a short distance from the shore a small Arab sail 
boat. We were told that there was another similar 
boat on the sea, both of them having been put on 
by the government for the benefit of the rock-salt 
and bitumen trade. 

We were also impressed with the fact that we were 
standing on or near the site once occupied by the 
wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; for it is now 
generally agreed among scholars that these cities 
were situated on the northwestern shore of the sea. 
This site seems to better fill all the requirements 
of the Scripture narrative. The fact that not a ves¬ 
tige of the cities themselves is to be found, unless 
some mounds there should prove to contain their 
ruins, only shows that when God engages in the work 
of destruction he does his work well. Yet there are not 
lacking visible evidences of existence here of the ma¬ 
terial means with which God overthrew these cities. 
While the “slime pits,’ 1 or more correctly speaking, 
the bitumen pits, are now probably occupied by the 
sea, bitumen and sulphur are both found here. Springs 
of petroleum are also here, “and this, when hardened, 
becomes asphalt. ” We procured beautiful speci¬ 
mens of these substances. 

The Hebrew word in the sacred text translated 
“brimstone” is thought by some scholars to be a gen¬ 
eral term including all these inflammable substances; 
and hence it was only necessary for God to unite 


A VISIT TO THE DEAD SEA 


189 


miraculous power with the natural means already at 
hand to produce the complete destruction of these 
cities with “brimstone and fire.” 

We may fittingly conclude this letter with the 
words of Lieutenant Lynch, of the American Expe¬ 
dition, who fully explored this remarkable sea. He 
says: “Everything said in the Bible about the 
Dead Sea and the Jordan, we believe to be fully 
verified by our observations.” 




LETTER XXXII. 


A VISIT TO THE JORDAN. 

Having finished our observations at the Dead Sea, 
we rode away across the plain in a northeastern 
direction to the Jordan, at the Pilgrim’s Bathing 
Place, which is about four miles from the mouth of 
the river. We were one hour riding the distance, 
reaching there at 10:80 a. m. Soon after leaving the 
Dead Sea we entered the second bed of the Jordan, 
over which the water flows during the flood season, 
and rode along the bank of the river to the ford. 
Scattering bushes of various kinds and tufts of tall 
native grass bordered our path, which was dry and 
firm. During the rainy season this road is so muddy 
that it is almost impassable. During the entire 
length of the Jordan as it winds its way through the 
plain its immediate banks are lined with trees and 
undergrowth, in some places forming a regular 
jungle, making it difficult for you to creep through 
it, and hiding the river from view till you come to 
the very water’s edge. At the bathing place, how¬ 
ever, near where the road crosses, there is a compar¬ 
atively good view of the river for a few hundred 
yards. 

Great interest centres at this point. It is probably 
190 


























































































































































PLACE WHERE JESUS WAS BAPTIZED. 








A VISIT TO THE JORDAN 


191 


here where the Israelites “passed over” the Jordan, 
“right against Jericho.” It was here that Elijah and 
Elisha smote the waters with the former’s mantle 
and went “over on dry ground.” And still more 
interesting to know, it is doubtless the place where 
John the Baptist baptized the multitudes, and where 
Jesus himself was baptized. There is plenty of room 
for the people to congregate, and during the dry sea¬ 
son it is an admirable place for baptizing. While in 
some parts the water is too deep for this purpose, 
at other points the bottom is pebbly, the slope grad¬ 
ual to the proper depth, and the current not too 
strong for baptizing with perfect safety and ease. I 
have frequently baptized scores of people in far more 
difficult places. More than once baptisms have taken 
place at, or near, this point In 1889 Dr T. De Witt 
Talmage immersed a young man from America in tho 
Jordan at this ford, and he experienced no difficulty 
in performing the act. Every year thousands of 
pilgrims bathe in the river at this place, many of 
them being immersed by the Greek priests. Imme¬ 
diately after the Easter ceremonies at Jerusalem the 
great caravan starts for this ford, and their encamp¬ 
ment on the bank of the river, lighted with pine 
torches, presents a curious and interesting spectacle. 
An eye-witness says: “Early in the morning, at a 
given signal, the pilgrims leave their resting place 
and proceed to the river, when old and young, rich 
and poor, without much regard to propriety, plunge 
into a promiscuous bath. The scene lias been vari¬ 
ously described by many travellers, who affirm that 



192 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


the Greeks attach deep religious significance to the 
ceremony,which is to them the source of many bless¬ 
ings.” Another writer says: “The priests wade into 
the water breast-deep and dip into the stream the 
men, women and children as they approach in their 
white garments. Some of the pilgrims fill jars from 
the river to be used for baptisms at home.” The 
American Consul at Jerusalem is a Presbyterian 
preacher, and his wife told us with delight how she 
had her first-born infant sprinkled a short time be¬ 
fore our visit with the sacred water brought from 
the Jordan. Of course we followed the example of the 
pilgrims, taking a bath. The only lady pilgrim of our 
party donned a white dress, waded in and dipped 
herself seven times, in imitation of Naaman’s dip¬ 
ping, probably at this place. As the writer was 
about to enter the water the dragoman, sheikh and 
the muleteer all joined in persuading him to hold on to 
a long rope which they had provided. To allay their 
fears he did so, but soon they said: “We don’t need 
to look after him, he can swim.” We also, like the 
other pilgrims, took a bottle of water to bring home 
with us, but not for baptismal purposes. 

The Jordan is in some respects a peculiar river, 
and coupled with its sacred associations, it becomes 
an intensely interesting one. Its extreme length is 
137 miles. It is 65 miles in a straight line from the 
Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and yet so crooked 
is the river that in going that distance it actually 
runs 200 miles. It runs to almost every point of 
the compass, and where we saw it, its flow is so 


A VISIT TO THE JORDAN 


198 


smooth that we could scarcely hear a ripple as we 
stood on its bank. The river varies in width during 
the year from thirty to sixty yards, and during the 
dry season it is from three to twelve feet deep. 
The water was so muddy that the bottom could not 
be seen anywhere. It is no wonder Naaman preferreJ 
to dip himself in the clear waters of his own Abana 
and Pharpar. 

We spread our lunch in the shade of the trees and 
ate it with much satisfaction. We then spent some 
time pushing our way through the bulrushes, re¬ 
minding us of the cane-brakes of Louisiana, and 
cutting sticks from the thick forest to bring home 
with us. I am not surprised that the lion in olden 
times lurked in these jungles. It is a fit place for 
wild animals, and some of the more harmless kinds 
are still found there. 

We returned to Jericho at 8 p. m., and after a 
short rest we rode out to see Elisha’s Fountain, a 
short distance northwest from the present Jericho. 
This is undoubtedly the spring which the prophet 
Elisha healed, an account of which we have in II. 
Kings ii. 19-22. It is a beautiful spring, bursting 
forth copiously from the earth and forming a pond 
surrounded by a stone wall. We took along, refresh¬ 
ing draught from it and decided that it was the best 
water we had tasted, thus far on our journey. Im¬ 
mediately below the fountain there was a respectable 
Arab grist-mill in full operation. Its black owner 
showed us through it with much satisfaction. On 
the banks of the stream, between the mill and the 


194 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


village of Jericho, the Russians have located a con¬ 
vent and a school, and the vegetation surrounding 
them is luxuriant This perennial fountain in proper 
hands would be made to turn this whole plain into a 
beautiful garden. Near Elisha’s Fountain can be 
seen the remains of ancient Jericho. 

Just back of the spring rises up conspicuously 
Quarantana, the mountain on which tradition has 
located the temptation of Jesus, and from the top of • 
which may be had a fine view. The name, which 
means forty, was given to the mountain by the Cru¬ 
saders in the twelfth century with reference to our 
Lord’s forty days’ fast. Near the summit the moun¬ 
tain is honeycombed with hermitages; but the her¬ 
mits have forsaken these gloomy abodes. After all, 
tradition is probably wrong in the selection of this 
mountain as the mountain on which Jesus was 
tempted, for it does not seem to meet all the require¬ 
ments of the Scriptures. 

As we returned to our hotel we gathered some curi¬ 
ous fruit called the apple of Sodom, and passed a 
Bedouin Arab encampment with its camel’s hair 
tents, complement of barking dogs, etc. The frogs 
in a pool near by, the dogs and the Arabs made the 
night lively for us. 

We arose early next morning and returned to Jeru¬ 
salem. We arrived at Bethany at 11 a. m., and in¬ 
stead of going right into Jerusalem we preferred to 
spread our lunch under olive trees on that part of the 
Mount of Olives near Bethany,from which we believe 
our Saviour ascended into heaven. Here we released 



A VISIT TO THE JORDAN 


195 


onr sheikh escort, his term of service having expired. 
We had seen him a short time before in close consul¬ 
tation with our dragoman, and we thought we knew 
what it meant. Sure enough, he had insisted that 
the dragoman should inform me that the faithful 
sheikh expected bakhshish. I told the sheikh that 
he was a rich man and I was a poor preacher, that I 
had already paid all expenses of the trip to the Jor¬ 
dan through Thomas Cook & Son, including his full 
salary, and that he ought to be satisfied with his pay 
according to the agreement. He thought over the 
matter, and then sat down close beside me with a 
pleasing countenance and said he would be satisfied 
with whatever I wished to give him. I told him if 
he would stick to that statement I would make him 
a gift. To this he agreed. I then took out my purse 
and with great dignity presented him with one franc! 
The mingled feelings of astonishment, amusement 
and disgust depicted in the man’s face afforded a 
rare study to all of us. He went behind an olive 
tree and pouted like a ten-year old boy who had been 
denied a fishing excursion on which he had set his 
heart. But I stood firm, and he finally concluded 
to laugh and bid us a hearty good-bye. The sheikli 
had taken special delight in lifting the lady trotter 
from her horse a number of times, and for this atten¬ 
tion he probably thought he should have extra pay. 
But I thought the privilege of thus making use of 
his dusky hands was ample pay. 

Bethany contains about forty hovels inhabited by 
Mohammedans. It is beautifully situated on the 


196 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


southeastern spur of the Mount of Olives, and is sur¬ 
rounded by numerous olive, fig and carob trees. We 
saw in Bethany the tomb of Lazarus and the house 
in which Mary and Martha lived. Our faith in their 
identity was weak; though the house of the sisters 
could not have stood far from the spot, and we ex¬ 
amined a cave a few hundred yards away , which 
seemed to us to fill the Scripture narrative of the 
burial and resurrection place of Lazarus. We then 
rode over the Mount of Olives, by the Garden of 
Gethsemane, down the Valley of Jehoshaphat, up 
the Valley of Hinnom to our hotel near the Joppa 
Gate, where we arrived tired and sun-tanned. 


LETTER XXXIII. 


A VISIT TO BETHLEHEM. 

We will leave Jerusalem again for the present, 
while we visit some other points of interest; and 
there is no place outside of Jerusalem and its envi¬ 
rons more interesting to us than the town of Bethle¬ 
hem, where David lived, and in which our Saviour 
was born. Let us, therefore, visit it. 

Bethlehem is situated slightly west of south from 
Jerusalem, and only six miles distant. When you 
stand on the highest point of the Mount of Olives, 
you turn toward Bethlehem, expecting to catch a 
glimpse of it ; but you are disappointed. Owing to 
an intervening ridge, the only thing you can see in it 
is the spire of one of the churches in the western end 
of the town. Our carriage leaves Jerusalem at the 
Joppa gate,and we descend into the Valley of Gihon, 
crossing on a stone bridge which divides this valley 
from the Valley of Hinnom, on our left. Ascending 
from the valley by a winding road, we enter the Plain 
of Rephaim, where David twice defeated the Philis¬ 
tines. We pass the railway station on the right and 
follow the beautiful level road which extends all the 
way to Bethlehem. On both sides of the road are 
well cultivated fields of ripe wheat, green durrah, 

197 


198 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


olive groves, and vineyards, enclosed by fences made 
of stones laid loosely on top of one another. Alorg 
the road we met numbers of men, women and chil¬ 
dren,some on foot and others riding camels and don¬ 
keys, which were loaded with brush, wheat and other 
articles for the Jerusalem markets. At the farther 
end of the plain we came to a well in the edge of the 
road which is pointed out as the well of the Magi,so 
called because tradition says that the wise men drank 
from it and saw reflected in the water the star that 
was guiding them to the Divine Babe of Bethlehem. 

We now ascend to the top of the above-named in¬ 
tervening ridge, from which we obtain a fine view of 
Bethlehem to the south, and Jerusalem to the north 
of us. Bethlehem looks especially pretty from this 
point of view. On the left is a large building be¬ 
longing to the Greeks, called Mar Elyas, or Convent 
of Elijah. On our right, by the roadside, is a de¬ 
pression in a ledge of limestone rock, which we are 
told was caused by the Virgin Mary reclining here 
to rest, as the holy family passed that way. A little 
farther along, on our left, is a deep valley sloping 
down from the road which is pointed out as the place 
where the angels appeared to the shepherds by night 
when Jesus was born. The lower end of the valley, 
now green with durrah, is said to be the field of 
Boaz, in which Ruth gleaned wheat. We saw some 
women gleaning not far away. We next come to 
the tomb of Rachel, a small, stone,house-like build¬ 
ing, with a whitewashed dome, which is thought by 
many to occupy the true site of Rachel’s tomb; but 


A VISIT TO BETHLEHEM 


199 


by others this site is disputed. If this is not the 
true site,Rachel’s grave, according to the Scriptures, 
could not have been far away. Here the road to Beth¬ 
lehem turns to the left, and the other branch leads 
straight on to Solomon’s Pools and Hebron. 

Bethlehem is built on a ridge, considerably ele¬ 
vated, running almost east and west, and as you ap¬ 
proach it you are attracted by the beautiful terraces 
along the side of this ridge, which are formed by 
building stone walls parallel to the hill so as to level 
the ground between the terraces, which are thickly 
set with olive and fig trees and vineyards. Scattered 
about in these cultivated fields, groves and vineyards, 
are stone watch-towers, affording us illustrations of 
the Scripture watch-towers. 

As we are about to enter the town, we turn a few 
steps to the left of the road to see David’s Well, 
from which David longed to have a cool drink when 
Bethlehem was held by his enemies. It will be re¬ 
membered how three of his mighty men fought their 
way through the Philistines’ lines, procured the 
water and brought it to David, and how he refused 
to drink it, but poured it out as a thank offering un¬ 
to the Lord.—II. Sam. xxiii. 14-17. The well is now 
enclosed by a stone wall, has a care-taker to whom a 
small admission fee must be paid; and the water is 
cool and refreshing. Here we noticed the superior 
beauty of the Bethlehem women, as they gathered 
about us to ask for bakhshish , and noted their pecu¬ 
liar style of head-dress, which distinguishes them 
from the other native women of Palestine. These 




200 OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 

Bethlehemites claim to be the descendants of the 
Crusaders, and thus it is that they are celebrated for 
their ruddy beauty and warlike dispositions. 

On entering the town, we find the streets narrow 
and crooked, and the houses, which are built of a 
yellowish white limestone, are crowded together and 
are poorly lighted and ventilated. The fresh ap¬ 
pearance of the new part of the town presents a 
pleasing contrast to the weather-beaten houses of 
the old Bethlehem. Our carriage went bumping over 
the uneven lane called a street, while the people 
stood with their backs to the wall, or squatted in 
the door of their little shops or homes with their 
feet drawn under them to avoid being hit by the fly¬ 
ing wheels of our vehicle. Passing through the 
small bazaar, filled with a curious people, we alighted 
in front of the Church of the Nativity. 

This extensive, irregular and indescribable mass 
of buildings is situated in the eastern end of the 
town, and looks much like an old fortress. Yet an 
excellent publication just from the press, entitled, 
“Early Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, ” by Bishop 
John H. Vincent and other able scholars, says the 
Church of the Nativity is “situated in the western 
part of Bethlehem.” The late edition of Baedeker’s 
able guide-book on Palestine and Syria makes the 
same curious mistake. Surely when these great schol¬ 
ars deliberately write down and publish this inexcu¬ 
sable blunder, the “higher critics” should be slow 
to find fault w T ith the Bible, which makes no such 
mistakes. This is not the only mistake we have 




A VISIT TO BETHLEHEM 201 

noted in books and newspaper articles on Palestine. 

A little way to the west of this group of buildings 
are situated several respectable shops, in which are 
manufactured and sold rosaries, crosses and various 
other articles in olive wood, corals, mother-of-pearl, 
and stink-stone from the Dead Sea A visit to these 
shops will prove interesting. We made some pur¬ 
chases. One of these shopkeepers was at the Chicago 
World’s Fair and took a premium on his goods. Beth¬ 
lehem has a population of about 8,000, the great 
body of whom are Greek and Roman Catholics. 

In our next letter we will examine more fully the 
traditional birthplace of our Saviour. 


1 



LETTER XXXIV. 


IN THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY. 

The main entrance to this cluster of buildings, 
comprising the Greek Church, the Latin Church, 
and the Greek, Latin, and Armenian monasteries, 
is on the west, through a heavy, narrow door, only 
about four feet high, standing in an archway of 
stone. Stooping to pass through this door, you en¬ 
ter the Church of St. Mary, proper It is built over 
a cave in which tradition claims Jesus was born. 
The original building, which has undergone many 
changes, is a very old one. It was probably erected 
by order of the Emperor Constantine, about three 
hundred and thirty years after the birth of Christ. 

The Church is built in the shape of a Latin cross, 
and the style is plain and simple. You pass over 
the stone-paved floor between five rows of lofty col¬ 
umns formed of single stones, some of which are said 
to have been taken from Solomon’s Temple, and on 
the walls you notice the remains of ancient, faded 
mosaics, depicting various scenes in the early history 
of Christianity, which must have been very beauti¬ 
ful when whole and fresh. It is also claimed that the 
roof is formed of “beams of rough cedar from Leba¬ 
non.” The great altar in the eastern end of the 

202 


IN THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 


203 


Church is screened by a partition thrown across the 
building over which can be seen the top of the cross 
above the altar. Passing through a door in this 
screen, you stand face to face with this elegant altar, 
whose costly lamps and brilliant decorations are 
chiefly the gifts of kings, queens and other distin¬ 
guished persons from various parts of the world. 
About this altar are clustered the throne of the Greek 
Patriarch, the pulpit, seats for the Greek clergy, and 
Greek choir. On each side of the platform on which 
the altar stands is a flight of steps leading down into 
the Grotto of the Nativity. Descending six steps 
from the left of the platform, we found ourselves in 
what is called the Chapel of the Nativity, an irregu¬ 
larly shaped cavern about thirteen and one-half yards 
long, four yards wide, and ten feet high, in which 
are burning thirty-two lamps. The floor is of mar¬ 
ble, and the walls are of masonry lined with marble 
and decorated with figures of saints, embroidery, etc. 
On our right is a semicircular recess in which a sil¬ 
ver star is let into a marble slab in the pavement, 
marking the very spot where Jesus is said to have 
been born; and this fact is expressed by these Latin 
words extending partly around the star: Hie de 
Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est. Over this 
recess we counted sixteen silver lamps, kept con¬ 
stantly burning, some of which belong to the Greeks, 
some to the Latins, and the others to the Armenians, 
all of whom have a special interest in this sacred 
spot. We descend three steps to the opposite side of 
the chapel and we are shown the manger in which 


204 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Jesus was cradled. It is made of marble, the bottom 
being white and the front brown, and over which 
eight lamps are burning. For eight days during 
Christmas-time a richly decorated wax doll is laid in 
the manger,and is placed on exhibition by the priests, 
while thousands of the superstitious people worship 
it. This cradle is not, however, the genuine manger; 
that one, it is claimed, was found by the Empress 
Helena and carried off to Rome. The Empress seems 
to have been a remarkably successful relic hunter. 
She has discovered almost every object connected 
with the birth and crucifixion of Jesus, even to the 
nails with which he and the thieves were fastened to 
the cross! We would not have been surprised if our 
guide had pointed out the remains of the very don¬ 
key which ate out of the manger in which the Babe 
of Bethlehem was laid. 

By following the windings of the cave, we visit 
various other chapels and tombs, in close proximity 
to the Grotto of the Nativity, such as the Altar of 
the Magi, the spot where the wise men of the East 
presented their gifts; the Chapel of Joseph, into 
which he retired at the moment of the nativity; the 
Altar of the Innocents, where a large number of the 
children massacred by Herod are buried; the Tomb 
of Eusebius, the church historian, and the Chapel 
and Tomb of Jerome. There is no doubt that Jerome 
lived and labored in Bethlehem during the latter part 
of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries, 
and he possibly lived as a hermit in this cave. It 
was also here that he did much of his writing, pro- 


IN THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 


205 


ducing, in all probability, his famous Latin transla¬ 
tion of the Bible, known as the Vulgate. He died 
here in A. D 420. 

While we were examining these sacred places, a 
Turkish soldier came round with a candle to see if 
any valuable thing was taken. He makes this round 
a number of times each day. 

Returning to the floor of the Church, we notice a 
Turkish sentinel stationed near the great altar, whose 
duty it is to see that the different sects do not fight 
when they come to worship at the manger. The 
Greeks have the lion’s share about the Church of the 
Nativity; but for the accommodation of the Latins, 
a path on the bare floor, about three feet wide, leads 
from their Church through part of the Greek Church, 
to the manger; and woe be to the Latin priest who 
sets his bare foot outside of this path on to the Greek 
carpet “Behold how these Christians love one an¬ 
other 1” 

Was Jesus born here? The objection based on the 
Bible statement that he was born in Bethlehem, to 
my mind, does not carry much weight with it. The 
site is much nearer Bethlehem than I anticipated, 
and I think it sufficiently near to have justified the 
inspired writer in locating it in Bethlehem. But 
in my opinion the strong improbability that Jesus 
was born in a cave , is fatal to the traditional site. 
That he could not have been born far from this spot 
is certain; and this fact brought before us afresh the 
picture of the wonderful event fraught with so many 
rich blessings to mankind, and filled us with joy 




206 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


akin to that possessed by the shepherds when the 
angel said to them, “Behold, I bring yon good tid¬ 
ings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for 
unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” 

From Bethlehem we drove down to Solomon’s 
Pools, two miles farther on, and examined these 
three immense reservoirs, all of which were partly 
filled with water. They are all in splendid preserva¬ 
tion. The largest one is 582 feet long, 207 feet wide 
at one end and 148 feet wide at the other end, and 
50 feet deep at the lower end. When full, it would 
float a large man-of-war. At one time the water 
from the spring connected with these pools was con¬ 
veyed in an aqueduct to the temple at Jerusalem. I 
procured a piece of the earthen pipe as a memento. 
Native women were taking water out of a well near 
the upper pool, and we took our first drink out of a 
Scripture bottle—a goat-skin The women insisted 
that Mrs. Trotter should remove her glove so that 
they might touch her white hand with their black 
ones. This greatly pleased them. 

As we returned to Jerusalem we saw, a little way 
to our left, a fresh looking town, surrounded by 
beautiful olive groves, which is inhabited mainly by 
Christians. It is probably the Scripture Giloh, the 
home of Ahithophel, David’s special counselor. We 
also saw shepherds in this hill country of Judea keep¬ 
ing watch over their flocks by day. 

Bethlehem had a peculiar fascination for us; so 
much so, indeed, that we were constrained to visit 


IN THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 


207 


it a second time. On Sunday morning before taking 
our final leave of Jerusalem, we drove out to Bethle¬ 
hem, and witnessed in the Church of the Nativity 
what few travellers have the privilege of seeing. 
While examining the Latin Church we noticed a 
priest meet a native woman at the door who had a 
young child in her arms, and conduct her toward 
the baptismal font, reading Latin as he went. He was 
joined at the font by a second priest,who assisted in 
a long ceremony from the Latin prayer book. Finally 
the mother held the infant in a horizontal posi¬ 
tion over the font, which was about two feet in 
diameter, and one of the priests took up a silver 
pitcher containing about a quart of water and poured 
the contents over the little head of the babe, com¬ 
pletely drenching it. He then wiped the head dry 
with a handkerchief, applied a few drops of oil to 
the forehead of the infant, and the ceremony was 
completed. The child took the pouring good-natur¬ 
edly. There were present only the mother, a small 
boy, the two priests, ourselves, and two Bethlehem 
shop-keepers who accompanied us. The Greeks prac¬ 
tice immersion only, and hence, we saw in their di¬ 
vision of this great Church a large font in which the 
immersing is done. 

We left Bethlehem with regret, and we took our 
last, lingering look at it as our carriage passed over 
the dividing ridge toward Jerusalem. 


LETTER XXXV. 


WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM. 

After the first week in Jerusalem we moved our 
headquarters from Howard’s Hotel, outside the city, 
to within the walls. We found very pleasant quar¬ 
ters at the German Hospice, situated on the corner 
of the Via Dolorosa and Damascus Street. Our spa¬ 
cious bedroom, with its white stone floor, partly 
covered with loose mats, was built across Damascus 
Street,and under it we could hear the noise from the 
street late at night and early in the morning. Our 
special servant was an Arab girl, intelligent and 
pleasant. She presented the little trotter with a 
card, on which she had made a beautiful cross of 
pressed flowers, gathered about the city. The hospice 
was kept by a German gentleman and his family, 
all of whom were members of the Lutheran Church 
in the city. They furnished a good table—except 
the goat butter. This was our introduction to this 
article of food. I tasted it once, after which I gave 
Mrs. Trotter instructions to make it convenient to 
keep it at the opposite end of the table. I could 
not even look at it again without losing my appetite. 
It had a loud goaty smell, and a louder taste. I told 
Mrs. Trotter she was falling from grace, because she 
208 



WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM 


209 


persisted in eating the lard-looking stud’. No won¬ 
der the Bible represents the wicked as goats. I seem 
to smell and taste this butter as I write. I will 
change the subject. Here also we met a Presbyte¬ 
rian clergyman from Brooklyn, N. Y.,the only other 
boarder at the hospice, with whom we had several 
delightful walks. 

We arose one beautiful morning at four o’clock 
and walked to the highest point of the Mount of 
Olives to see the sun rise from behind the mountains 
of Moab, beyond the Jordan. It was a glorious sight. 
At the northern end of the mountain there was a 
threshing-floor comprising about an acre of ground, 
and much wheat had been carried there to be 
tramped out by the beasts of burden. The Arab watch 
was stretched on a pile of straw, and we walked 
almost over him without disturbing his slumbers. 
Near the summit we examined a Scripture bake- 
oven. It was built of stones and mud, about six 
feet high and fifteen feet in circumference at the bot¬ 
tom, and cone shaped. There was one opening near 
the ground about three feet square. The fire was 
built in the centre of the oven, and when hot, the 
dough was laid on projecting stones around the in¬ 
ner edge of the oven for baking. Near by we saw 
large quantities of the droppings of cows and other 
animals made into flat cakes and stuck on the sides 
of the houses and stone fences for drying. This is 
the principal fuel for bread-baking The Mount of 
Olives is a long,ridge-like hill, having two prominent 
summits divided by a saddle. The southern summit 


210 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


overlooks Bethany,so that when you are standing on 
it you are as “far as Bethany” without being in the 
town. It was evidently from this point that Jesus 
ascended into heaven. See Luke xxiv. 50, 51. The 
ascent of the mount is made by three paths from the 
Garden of Gethsemane, the centre one leading di¬ 
rectly to the summit, and the other two inclining to 
the right and left. 

At the western base of this mountain is situated 
the Garden of Gethsemane, enclosed in a white¬ 
washed stone wall about ten feet high, and includes 
about half an acre of ground. The entrance is 
through a grated iron door, and in one corner is a 
sort of house occupied by the Latin monk who takes 
care of the garden. The ground is divided into six 
squares by a small picket-fence, and cultivated in 
beautiful flowers, The monk supplied us with a 
variety of seeds from which we have successfully 
grown some of these flowers. Water is supplied by 
a well in the center of the garden, dug at the expense 
of an American lady. We counted in the garden 
eight very old olive trees. There is no good reason 
for doubting that it was on or near this spot where 
Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss. 

As we returned from the Mount of Olives about a 
dozen women were sitting at intervals along the road 
crossing the Kidron Valley to beg of us. They held 
out their hands and said pitifully, “ Bakhshish, ya 
khowaja ,” meaning, U A gift, 0 sir.” Our reply was, 
11 La bakhshish ”—'“No gift/’ 

We visited the Mosque of Omar, or more correctly, 
the Dome of the Rock, which occupies the site of 



WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM 


211 


Solomon’s Temple,on Mount Moriah. Except Mecca, 
there is no more sacred place in the world to the 
Mohammedans. We had to make special arrange¬ 
ments to visit it. To protect us from all harm, we 
were supplied with an armed Turkish soldier and the 
body-guard of the American Consul. And yet the 
place is gradually losing some of its sacredness. A 
few years ago no one could enter the Dome without 
removing the shoes from the feet; but we were only 
required to put on slippers over our shoes. The nat¬ 
ural limestone rock,of irregular shape,under the cen¬ 
tre of the great dome, about 50 feet long, 40 feet wide 
and 6£ feet high, is the most sacred spot of all. Yet 
in a small cavern immediately under the sacred rock 
we saw a dirty Arab sound asleep. There is a circu¬ 
lar hole through the centre of the rock, and tradition 
says that when Mohammed made his celebrated flight 
to heaven from the cave under it, the hole was made 
by his body passing through the rock. Mohammed 
must have been a hard-headed, stiff-necked prophet. 
This rock may have supported the altar on which 
Abraham offered his son Isaac, and over it some im¬ 
portant part of the Temple probably stood. In the 
Mosque elAksa, in another part of the Haram in¬ 
closure, we saw near the beautifully carved pulpit 
two marble columns standing about eight inches 
apart,called the “Strait gate,” or “Gate to heaven.” 
The Mohammedans say no one who can not pass 
between the columns can enter heaven. During 
<uir visit the gate was closed, so we did not have the 
pleasure of going to heaven that way. Had the gate 


212 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


been open, I much doubt if Mrs. Trotter could have 
squeezed between the posts, and the thought of going 
to heaven and leaving her on the outside of the gate 
would have made me sad. 

On Friday in the afternoon we went to the Wailing 
Place of the Jews, by the Haram wall, not far from 
the Temple site. We found our way there from David 
Street along a narrow, winding, filthy lane which 
was filled with beggars at every turn. We were 
received very kindly, special seats being arranged 
for us. About 150 Jews of both sexes were congre¬ 
gated before this wall, 65 feet high, some reading 
their Hebrew Bibles and prayer books, while others 
were kissing the immense stones of the wall and 
wailing, the tears rolling down their cheeks. It was 
a sad sight. There were present a couple of two- 
legged donkeys, making light of the wailers. At 
home, they were probabty known as French gentle¬ 
men. We also saw here one thing that did present 
a comical side, to which the Jews, however, paid no 
more attention than if it had been a necessary part 
of the programme. It was a case of brawling. An 
Arab and his wife had a difference, and they settled 
it in the wailing place. The woman talked with her 
head, arms, feet and body, and she seemed to have 
a dozen tongues, each one on a pivot and loose at 
both ends. The man was no better. I can now un¬ 
derstand what Solomon meant when he said: “It 
is better to dwell in the corner of the house top, 
than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.” 
And Solomon might have added that “it is better 


WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM 


213 


to dwell in the cellar, than with a brawling man 
in a wide house.” 

On Saturday we went into a Jewish Synagogue, 
in which there was a crowd of men, some sitting on 
benches, some standing, some reading aloud and 
others engaged in conversation. All had their heads 
covered. We saw at the back of the building the 
woman’s gallery; but the women were not there. 

We visited David’s Tomb, a short distance outside 
the Zion Gate. Adjoining it, on a second floor, is 
pointed out the traditional Upper Room in which 
the Lord’s Supper was instituted, and in which the 
disciples were assembled on the Day of Pentecost, 
when the Holy Spirit descended on them. The 
native women are required to approach the tomb by 
a special way, and to pass through a doorway across 
w’hich a chain is stretched about two feet from the 
ground. Under this chain the women must stoop to 
keep them humble. When the “new woman” 
reaches Jerusalem this chain will come down. As 
further evidence that she has not yet arrived there, 
I saw a man on David Street violently push down a 
woman, presumably his wife, and no one in the 
crowd took as much notice of it as if he had kicked 
his dog. Returning from the “upper room” we 
passed the Turkish barracks and heard the band play¬ 
ing. It seemed that the whole tune was composed 
of discords It was a mixture of screeching, creak¬ 
ing, rattling sounds such as we had never heard be¬ 
fore. The Turk must have a strangely constructed 
ear for music. 


214 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


On our first Sunday in the city we attended the 
Episcopal Church, at 10 a, m. The service was con¬ 
ducted in English, and the sermon was poor. About 
60 people were present,mostly English residents. In 
theory there are what we may call three Sundays in 
Jerusalem. The Mohammedans observe Friday, the 
Jews Saturday, and the Christians Sunday. But 
practically all days are much alike, except the Jew¬ 
ish Sabbath, which is most strictly observed of all 
other days In the Jewish quarter all the shops are 
closed on the Sabbath, and in other quarters the Jew 
does not hesitate to close his shop, though his Chris¬ 
tian neighbors on both sides of him are open. Evi¬ 
dently the Christianity in Jerusalem is not the type 
to convert the Jews very soon. 

We visited and carefully examined the principal 
pools in and about the city, including the Upper and 
Lower Pools of Gihon, the Pool of Hezekiah, the 
Pool of Siloam, the Virgin’s Pool and the Pool of 
Bethesda. On the opposite side of the Via Dolorosa 
from the last named pool, and at the northwestern 
corner of the Church of St. Anna, has been recently 
discovered what is considered by many to be the true 
Bethesda of the New Testament. It is much smaller 
than the traditional Bethesda, is reached by a flight 
of steps, is surrounded by old porches, and the water 
which constantly stands in it is thought to contain 
sanitary properties. We were also kindly shown 
through the excavations which Dr. Bliss was mak¬ 
ing on Mt. Zion, a short distance outside the present 
wall. Dr. Bliss has made here some valuable dis¬ 
coveries, the principal one of which he believes to be 



WALKS ABOUT JERUSALEM 


215 


part of the wall of the ancient city. On the oppo¬ 
site side of the Valley of Hinnom we examined the 
Field of Blood, and explored the newly discovered 
tombs, which were partly filled with grinning human 
skeletons. The tombs are enclosed with a stone wall 
and kept by a Greek priest. The priest gave me a 
description of the discovery, etc., printed in Greek. 
Near this spot we saw a strong limb of an olive tree 
projecting over the cliff, on w r hich any modern Judas 
might easily hang himself, and in case the rope 
should break,giving him a clear fall of thirty feet on 
to the sharp rocks, probably “bursting him asunder 
in the midst.” The Valley of Hinnom was the hot¬ 
test place through which we passed in all of our trav¬ 
els, and it was a fit reminder of the Bible hell with 
which it has been long associated. 

On Wednesday, July 11, by special invitation, we 
took tea with the American Consul, Rev. E. S. Wal¬ 
lace, and wife. Here we met the wife of the English 
Consul and other prominent ladies. On the follow¬ 
ing Sunday afternoon the Consul arranged to have 
my Presbyterian friend and myself conduct service 
in the large office of the consulate, the first of the 
kind that had been attempted. Encouraged by the 
large attendance of Europeans, the Consul announced 
his purpose to continue the meetings. 

Our walks about Jerusalem proved exceedingly in¬ 
teresting,and were far too numerous to admit of even 
a brief description of all of them here. They will 
always remain fresh in our memories, and contin¬ 
ually furnish incentives to Bible study and the proc¬ 
lamation of the Gospel of Christ. 


LETTER XXXVI. 


FROM JERUSALEM TO NAPLES. 

On Monday morning, July 16, we took our final 
departure from Jerusalem. The agent of Thomas 
Cook & Son drove us to the railway station and se¬ 
cured for as the exclusive use of a first-class compart-* 
ment. At 7:45 our train left for Joppa, and as we 
moved away through the Plain of Rephaim,the Tower 
of David, the Mount of Olives and the Russian Tower, 
on the summit of Olivet, were the last objects 
about the city to be seen. Our train gradually de¬ 
scended the wadies which wind about, serpentine 
fashion, passing beautiful vegetable gardens, olive 
groves, terraced hills and rugged mountains till we 
reached the Plain of Sharon. We also passed in the 
Valley of Roses, about five miles from Jerusalem, 
Philip’s Fountain, where the Latins claim the eunuch 
was baptized. There is a beautiful pool of water a 
short distance below the spring, with steps leading 
down into it, which would certainly prove an ad¬ 
mirable place for baptizing. We saw other places 
along the wadies which, during the greater part of 
the year, would serve the same purpose. It will not 
be according to fact to contend that there was not 
plenty of water in the country through which the 
216 


FROM JERUSALEM TO NAPLES 


217 


eunuch passed in which he could have been immersed. 

In the Plain of Sharon we saw what appeared to 
be straw-stacks moving towards the threshing-floors. 
But they were simply camels with immense loads of 
unthreshed wheat on their backs, their legs only be¬ 
ing visible. It is said that a full-sized camel can carry 
more than 800 pounds. I am sure that these were 
carrying next to the last straw that broke the camel’s 
back. We saw at one large threshing-floor, near 
Jaffa, a donke} 7 and an ox yoked together, treading 
out the’wheat. Near by we saw a large camel and 
a small donkey tied together, making their rounds, 
the back of the donkey reaching only to the knees of 
the camel. All the animals were unmuzzled. We 
thought of the passages of Scripture which say: 
“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox thattreadeth out the 
corn“Be ye not unequally yoked together with un¬ 
believers. ” 

From the Jaffa station we were driven to the Jeru¬ 
salem Hotel, which we made our headquarters for 
nearly four days. Here we had the pleasure of meet¬ 
ing Dr. Bliss, President of the Presbyterian College 
at Beyrout. He was accompanied by his wife and 
daughter, and also met here by his son from Jerusa¬ 
lem. They were taking a holiday trip. 

On Thursday, July 1£>, we sailed from Jaffa on the 
Egyptian S. S. Khedivial. Cook’s boatmen rowed 
us out to our ship in their splendid “No. 1” boat. 
The hills and shores of Palestine soon disappeared 
from view. At sunset the Mohammedan passen¬ 
gers did not hesitate to say their prayers on deck. 


218 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Next morning at 7 o’clock we anchored in the har¬ 
bor at Port Said. We had to wait here four days 
for our boat, the Austral , from Australia, to take us 
on to Naples. We stopped during this time at the 
Grand Continental Hotel, close to the water and 
commanding a fine view of the harbor and canal. 
As we sat for hours after dark on the balcony of our 
hotel, it was an interesting and beautiful sight to 
watch the great ships, with their powerful search¬ 
lights, slowly working their way into and out of this 
wonderful canal. At first those approaching us 
looked like lantern lights moving on the desert; but 
after a few hours the whole city was illuminated by 
their head-lights. If all the old Pharaohs in the 
museums and tombs were to suddenly rise up out of 
their coffins and behold these modern wonders m 
their land,they would be as much struck by them as 
we are at the pyramids which some of them have 
built. Another thing we noted here was the fact that 
not a single American flag did we see floating over 
any of the many ships passing through this canal. 
Even the man acting as American Consul in Port 
Said is an Englishman. It is a burning shame that 
our partisan politicians can not cease fighting one 
another long enough to give our country a little more 
honor and influence abroad. One day we went out 
on a beautiful beach to have a bath in the Mediter¬ 
ranean Sea. A Mohammedan, having finished his 
bath, spread down his mat, turned his face toward 
Mecca and laboriously went through with his long 
prayer, while we looked on and took notes. 


FROM JERUSALEM TO NAPLES 


219 


We were four days sailing over the Mediterranean 
Sea. We did not see Jonah’s whale. But there are 
whales of the largest kinds found in this sea. The 
Greek word in the New Testament translated whale, 
as every scholar knows, is not limited to the whale, 
but means any great fish or sea-monster; and it is a 
well known fact that there is a species of shark in¬ 
habiting the Mediterranean Sea quite capable of 
swallowing any ordinary man, ignorant infidel as¬ 
sertions to the contrary, notwithstanding. I saw 
sharks caught in Australia more than thirty feet 
long, which could swallow a man with the greatest of 
ease. Hence, I believe that a great fish swallowed 
Jonah. I believe it mainly because Jesus has said so, 
and I must leave the “critics” to dispute with the 
Lord. The “critics” have no right, however, to make 
a whale out of Jonah and a minnow of the fish. It is 
just as easy to suppose that Jonah was a pygmy and 
that the sea-monster was large enough to swallow 
a whole family of Jonahs at a single gulp. What 
the “critics” need is what Jonah got —a big whaling. 
While we saw no whales, we did see porpoises sport¬ 
ing themselves, and many beautiful jelly-fish in the 
blue sea. 

We sailed close by the island of Crete, now called 
Candia, with its bold headlands covered with tufts 
of native grass, with a small tree here and there. 
Here our ship experienced a strong head-wind, and 
we thought of the ship on which Paul was being 
taken to Rome contending with the wind along these 
coasts. It was on this island the apostle left Titus 


220 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


to set in order the tilings that were wanting and or¬ 
dain elders in every city. As the island is now gov¬ 
erned by the Turks, I am afraid that Titus would 
have a difficult task to set in order all the things 
that are wanting 

At daylight on July 27 we passed through the 
Strait of Messina, which divides Italy and Sicily, 
and we saw on our right Reggio, the Bible Rhegium, 
at which Paul’s boat touched; and on our left, a lit¬ 
tle farther on, was the town of Messina, beginning 
at the water’s edge and extending far up the Sicily 
hills. We also had a fine view of the celebrated Scylla 
(rock) and Charybdis (whirlpool). We were disap¬ 
pointed, however, in not seeing snow-crowned Mount 
Etna, on the Sicily side, having passed the point of 
observation for it before daylight. A lighthouse on 
the Sicily side marked our exit from the strait into 
the sea again. One hour’s run brought us to the 
small cone-shaped island of Stromboli, rising ab¬ 
ruptly out of the sea to a considerable height. Its 
top is an active volcano, which every few minutes 
sent out a cloud of smoke in shape something like a 
large tree with its spreading branches. A small town 
of white houses nestles at its base, and the slopes 
half-way up the mountain are covered with green 
grass, striped with deep, dark furrows running from 
the crater to the base of the mountain. We w r ere 
quite close to it; and it presented a pretty picture 
with the rays of the rising sun falling on it, and 
some clouds hanging about its summit. A few weeks 
after this, Stromboli was in eruption, destroying 






NAPLES AND MOUNT VESUVIUS. 













FROM JERUSALEM TO NAPLES 


221 


much property on the island and causing suffering 
among the people which had to be alleviated by do¬ 
nations from the principal Italian cities. 

At 4 p. m. on Friday we steamed into the famous 
Bay of Naples, with its vine-clad hills on our right, 
the city before us and grand Mount Vesuvius,a little 
to the right, in the background. We were all dis¬ 
appointed with the bay, and agreed that its beauty 
has been much exaggerated. It lacks diversity, and 
is so shallow near the landing that our ship could 
not approach the little pier. It is simply a big sheet 
of water with the sea rolling right into it. Its beauty 
will not compare favorably with the Sydney Harbor, 
Australia. Let us now “see Naples, and die.” 


LETTER XXXVII. 


SEEING NAPLES. 

Well, we have seen Naples and we did not die. 
Perhaps the reason was our stay there was short. 
We are thankful we lived long enough to get away 
from there. Still, we have seen worse places; in 
fact, on the whole, we were rather pleased with Na¬ 
ples. Beginning with the business part and the prin¬ 
cipal streets on the level at the head of the bay, the 
city is built high up on the hills, and crowned by 
the castle of St. Elmo. Its tall buildings are massed 
together, making the streets narrow and winding. It 
possesses some fine public buildings and beautiful 
parks and gardens. Like the Egyptians, the people 
seem to live outdoors; especially of evenings, when 
the streets literally swarm with them. The few who 
are not then on the streets are sitting at the windows 
and on the small balconies, from three to eight stories 
high, looking down on the swaying mass of human¬ 
ity. But more orderly crowds we have never seen. 
Nearly all the men and boys wore white straw hats 
of the same pattern, and most of the women went 
with their heads uncovered. The bevies of dark¬ 
eyed, bare-headed maidens on the streets were very 
pretty. (I did not say this to Mrs. Trotter.) I laid 

222 


SEEING NAPLES 


223 


off my pith helmet, put on a straw hat and mingled 
with the crowds. Naples is a great city, having a 
population of about 600,000. 

We came ashore in a small steamer; and we were 
warned to put away all the tobacco we had about us, 
for the Italian Customs officials could smell a pinch 
of snuff half a mile away. If the stump of an old 
cigar had been found in our possession it would have 
become at once a smoking Vesuvius and caused us 
trouble. But as I do not use the weed at all we 
were soon passed through the Custom House, and 
driven to the Hotel de Russie. The tall, sliek-tongued 
thief who accompanied the carriage driver charged 
us eight shillings for the short ride. I declined 
to pay it. He became angry, and I stood on the ho¬ 
tel steps and smiled while he beat the wall with his 
fist, danced a jig and swore in Italian. At the close 
of the performance I said: “I will give you four 
shillings; take that, or I will call the police.” He 
took the money and disappeared around the corner. 
Our room was at the top of four long flights of steps, 
and opened out on to a balcony with the bay and 
Mount Vesuvius in plain view. We were well pleased 
with the accommodation. We had no reason to 
complain of the inadequacy of the food. It is true 
the breakfast in the European hotels is not so elab¬ 
orate as the American hotels usually supply. But 
there is always plenty of bread, butter and coffee, 
and sometimes eggs and jam; and what is lacking 
at breakfast is made up at the other meals. Of course 
if one is thinking more about eating than about 


224 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


sight-seeing, he may not be satisfied with such a 
breakfast. A Continental tour, with some Ameri¬ 
cans is essentially an eating tour. The pleasure of 
the journey is measured by the amount of food they 
can manage to envelop; and the fuss they continually 
make about it and the way they go about eating 
give the impression abroad that the American people 
are more interested in the development of stomachical 
capacity than they are in brain culture. The climate 
was perfection. We experienced no shivering between 
cold hotel walls; the sky was clear and the air balmy. 

Early next morning we took a walk through the 
city before the people were fairly astir. We noted 
some strange sights. The milk wagons were not 
rattling through the streets delivering watered milk, 
coming from all sorts of questionable places. But 
before one door in the street stood two or three cows; 
a man was milking the maid’s quart-cup full while 
the maid stood on the steps watching the process. 
Only one thing could prevent this milk from being 
pure, and that would bean impure cow. Before an¬ 
other door stood a herd of goats; the herder was 
milking one,while two others had retired to the mid¬ 
dle of the street to apparently settle a difference by 
cracking their heads together. But we have seen so 
many strange things that we are sometimes almost 
afraid to judge things according to the appearance. 
It may be that these two goats resorted to this 
method of churning the milk before delivering it. 
At any rate, the herder was delivering to the house¬ 
hold pure goat milk, mostly made from the brown 


SEEING NAPLES 


225 


paper the goats had picked up from the streets. And 
so the cows and goats went the round from house 
to house till the supply of milk was exhausted. 

Amidst all the splendor in Naples we saw evi¬ 
dences that many of its people are very poor. There 
goes a rickety old fruit-cart drawn by an ox and a 
lean horse, side by side. Yonder is another similar 
cart drawn by a poorly clad man between the shafts 
and a sad looking donkey pulling in harness before 
him. Here, in the centre of a principal thorough¬ 
fare, is a thin, weak horse that has broken down 
under the great load placed on it, and some people 
are gathering about it to enjoy the fun, Out there 
in that back-yard playing are a couple of boys thir¬ 
teen years old stark naked. The rich ride by in their 
carriages, the fountains play, the sweet music floats 
on the air and the city has put on her holiday dress. 
Strange mixture 1 

The most enjoyable and instructive place we vis¬ 
ited in the city was the Naples Museum, which is a 
national institution. The building is an attractive 
and substantial one, and it contains more than 
120,000 specimens. We walked through forests of 
fine statuary. We saw walls covered with paintings, 
including many masterpieces. We examined a col¬ 
lection of nearly two thousand beautiful fresco paint¬ 
ings, taken chiefly from the walls of Pompeii and 
Herculaneum. We admired the numerous magnifi¬ 
cent mosaics from the same source. Of course we 
were most interested in the things taken from the 
partially recovered cities of Pompeii and Hercu- 


226 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


laneum. In addition to those already named, we 
examined the following: Various articles of food, 
such as bread, cake, meat, fruits and nuts. There 
were fifteen loaves of bread found in a bake-oven at 
Pompeii. A loaf and a half were found on the coun¬ 
ter, one loaf evidently having been cut to make up 
the proper weight. There were walnuts, figs, pears, 
chestnuts, dates, raisins, almonds, carob bean-pods, 
onions, eggs, wax, honey in the comb, and bones of 
fish and fowl. One case contained wheat, barley, 
millet, beans, lentils and pepper. There was meat 
in a double saucepan, just as it had been put in to 
cook, and there was some flour in a jar. Eight glass 
tubes hermetically sealed contained olives preserved 
in oil. But the most remarkable thing was a glass 
jar containing petrified wine. Linen was found in 
a wash-tub,silk wound in balls, nets for ladies’ hair, 
soles of sandals, and purses containing money. One 
of these purses was found with one of the skeletons 
taken from the house of Diomede. There were also 
toys for the nurseries, scent bottles, plates, tumblers, 
cups, bowls, vaces, milk jugs, tear bottles, tables, 
some of which are marble folding tables, bedsteads, 
iron safes, locks, keys, hinges from doors, folding 
chairs, fountain jets and sprays, doorknockers, bath 
tubs and ointment pots; iron tools, such as scythes, 
sickles, bill-hooks, knives, rakes, forks, spades, 
trowels, ploughshares, saws, hammers, planes, an¬ 
vils and whetstones; lamps and lanterns, weights and 
measures,mathematical instruments, surgical instru¬ 
ments,kitchen utensils,etc.,etc. Many of these things 


SEEING NAPLE8 


227 


I have enumerated were as perfect in their construc¬ 
tion as can be produced at the present time by the 
most advanced civilized nations I wish to specially 
mention the stocks that were found in the barracks 
at Pompeii. They were so constructed as to be fas¬ 
tened to the floor of the prison. Each partition 
confined the ankle of a prisoner, who was thus com¬ 
pelled to sit or lie on the floor. They were capable of 
securing twenty prisoners, and four skeletons were 
found in them, the sudden covering up of the city 
not permitting of the release of the prisoners. It 
was doubtless this sort of an instrument in which 
Paul and Silas were confined at Philippi. 

We were much interested in the gold ornaments, 
in great variety and exquisite designs, consisting of 
earrings, finger-rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. We 
have never seen more perfect and beautiful jewelry. 
We examined a “remarkable gold necklace of ribbon 
wire set with eight large pearls and nine emeralds. 
At one end of it is a gold disc with an emerald, and 
at the other end is a hook. This is one of the richest 
necklaces of antiquity.” On a skeleton in a house 
in Pompeii were found two solid gold bracelets 
weighing two pounds. On the finger of the same skel¬ 
eton was a garnet ring with a small figure, and the 
inscription, “Cassia.” We were shown a solid gold 
lamp from Pompeii weighing three pounds. But 
space forbids further mention of these interesting 
objects. 

We left the museum tired, but well repaid for our 
labor. 




LETTER XXXVIII 


A WALK THROUGH POMPEII. 

On Saturday morning we had a delightful walk 
through Pompeii, which to me, in some respects, is 
the most interesting place in the world. We took 
the train at Naples at half-past ten and were soon at 
the Pompeii Hotel, before the entrance gate. 

Pompeii was a seaport town situated at the base 
of Mount Vesuvius, about seventeen miles in a south¬ 
eastern direction from Naples. It was mostly sur¬ 
rounded by a strong wall which was nearly two miles 
in circumference, and it had eight gates. Its streets 
were well made, with raised sidewalks, and supplied 
with drinking fountains, the water being brought 
into the city in pipes of lead. It was evidently a city 
of considerable wealth and influence. But it was 
overtaken by a sudden calamity. 

At about one o’clock in the afternoon of August 
24, 79 A. D., an immense cloud of smoke was seen 
to issue from Mount Vesuvius, resembling in shape 
a huge pine tree. Soon the surrounding country was 
shrouded in midnight darkness, which lasted for 
three days, the earth shook, forked lightning played 
about the summit of the mountain, the flames burst 
forth accompanied by terrific thunder. Ashes, scoria 
228 


A WALK THROUGH POMPEII 


229 


and small stones poured down on Pompeii, while the 
terror-stricken inhabitants were fleeing for their 
lives. The scene was awful. The city was buried 
from twenty to thirty feet deep, and it is thought 
that some two thousand people perished. Some of 
the ashes seem to have been mixed with water, form¬ 
ing a paste-like substance in which the bodies of the 
unfortunate people were encased, preserving the im¬ 
pressions of their bodies with great accuracy. No 
lava ran down on the city, as supposed by some, for 
this would have consumed every combustible thing. 
But the city was so completely covered that finally 
its very site was lost for centuries, and the rich 
ground w.hioh had formed above it was cultivated in 
corn, vines and fruit trees The younger Pliny, who 
witnessed it at a distmce of twenty miles, has left 
on record a vivid description of this awful catastro¬ 
phe. The neighboring city of Herculaneum was also 
buried at the same time with fine ash mixed with 
water or a stream of mud rolling down from the 
mountain top. In 1748 some peasants, by mere 
chance, discovered specimens which served to locate 
the buried city, and from that time to the present 
excavations have been irregularly carried on. At the 
time of our visit only about forty acres had been ex¬ 
cavated, leaving about ninety acres yet to be uncov¬ 
ered. T was told that, owing to lack of funds, the 
Italian government is not able to push the work rap¬ 
idly. 

Our entrance to this curious city was through the 
gate facing the sea, for which privilege we paid two 


i 




280 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


francs each, which included the services of a guide. 
Immediately after passing through the gate we turned 
to the right and entered the Pompeian Museum, in 
which is collected a large number of the relics re¬ 
covered from the buried city. Most of these are 
similar to those I have described in the Naples Mu¬ 
seum. But in addition to these, we saw here the 
recovered skeletons of horses, dogs, cats and rats. 
And then through the middle of the first room was 
a row of nine skeletons of men and women whose 
fleshly forms have been very accurately reproduced 
in casts taken from the hollow moulds of the bodies 
where they were discovered. One of these was a 
faithful sentinel whose remains were found standing 
erect, with lance in hand, at one of the gates, wdiere 
he was on guard. A woman was lying with her face 
to the ground and her hand over her mouth, probab¬ 
ly to avoid suffocation; and the arrangement of her 
hair and the folds of her drapery were plainly seen. 
Two more women, thought to be mother and daugh¬ 
ter, had perished together. It may be well to re¬ 
member that according to Josephus it was in Pompeii, 
on this dreadful day, Felix and Drusilla, who neg¬ 
lected to give heed to Paul’s special sermon to them, 
perished. 

Leaving the museum,we walked through the main 
streets and explored the principal buildings, cover¬ 
ing many acres of ground. Here were paved streets 
with raised stepping-stones for crossings, and drink¬ 
ing fountains standing at intervals, as they were on 
the night the city was destroyed In some places 


A WALK THROUGH POMPEII 


281 


ruts have been worn in the stone-paved streets by 
the chariot wheels. Here are the stately walls of 
temples,courts and other public buildings, with some 
of their beautiful columns, many of which are fluted, 
standing in their places, while others have fallen to 
the ground. Here are the humble dwellings of the 
poor with one or two small rooms; the mansions of 
the rich with their reception-rooms, dining-rooms, 
bedrooms, bathrooms, open courts, flower gardens 
and playing fountains; and the shops with their 
fittings On the walls of some of the dining-rooms 
were painted in beautiful colors the articles of food 
with which the tables were supplied. There were 
the wine shops with the great jars still in their 
places. We examined a large bakehouse with a mill 
attached, and a counter on which the bread was ex¬ 
posed for sale. Loaves were found in the ovens. 
Near by was a drug-store, in which were found bot¬ 
tles of pills and other medicines, and surgical in¬ 
struments. The public baths were extensive and 
beautiful, and were supplied with dressing-rooms, 
heating apparatus, etc. The Basilica, the Civil Forum 
and the theatres were great buildings. We saw some 
deserted houses of shame, and paintings on the walls 
depicting the vices of the people We saw a place 
called “Skeletons’ Lane,” from which seven skeletons 
had been taken. Indeed, we saw here on every hand 
unmistakable evidences of the state of civilization 
and the customs and manners of a Roman city more 
than eighteen hundred years ago. As Sir J. W. 
Dawson says: “The Pompeian Museum at Naples, 




232 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE? WORLD 


in fact, would make one believe that three-fourths 
of our modern artistic decoration had come from 
Pompeii, or from the same sources with the art of 
that fossil city. ” But adieu to Pompeii. 



LETTER XXXIX. 


CLIMBING MOUNT VESUVIUS. 

We took lunch at the Pompeii Hotel,procured horses 
and a guide, and at Ip. m. sharp, we set out to climb 
Mount Vesuvius. No more donkey for the little 
trotter. This time he took a horse like the rest of 
us, and was very proud when he found that he could 
actually gallop without tumbling off. Mrs. Trotter 
discovered that her horse was also a trotter, and a 
hard one too. On the way we were overtaken by a 
gentleman and his guide. He was a shipmate from 
Australia, and an actor. Farther on we came to a 
Roman Catholic Convent, and over the door to the 
main entrance was written in large letters, “Purga¬ 
tory.” We thought the name appropriate. Iam 
afraid, however, that our short stop at “Purgatory” 
did not perfectly purify us; for from “purgatory” 
we straightway went up to hell. Our actor thought 
the trip was a pleasant and easy one. He said he was 
used to the road. 

At a considerable elevation we arrived at the half¬ 
way house, where we had a few T moments’ rest and a 
drink of water. Then we rode rapidly on, our wind¬ 
ing path leading us through great fields of lava, till 
we reached the highest point we could make on horse- 
233 


234 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


back. Here we dismounted for the purpose of mak¬ 
ing the remainder of the ascent on foot. But a half- 
dozen Italians had come down the mountain-side to 
meet us here. They looked as if they had just come 
from the infernal regions, gaunt, glare-eyed and cov¬ 
ered with sulphur and dust. They had come to take 
their charge. “No, thank you,” we all said in a 
chorus, “we are going to climb this mountain single- 
handed. ” The actor was off like a roe. He was in 
his element. The little trotter next broke away, and 
seemed to make fair progress. Mrs. Trotter next 
made the effort. She took one step up and slipped 
down two. She had stepped into ashes and cinders 
knee-deep. That settled it. But the Italians were 
equal to the emergency. They had a rudely con¬ 
structed chair, with two poles fastened to the bottom 
of it, in which they proposed to carry her to the 
crater and back to our horses for eighteen francs. 
We closed the contract. It was the only chance. 
The would-be lady climber reluctantly took a seat in 
the chair, three Italians hoisted her on their shoul¬ 
ders while a fourth one went behind to steady the 
others; and they went scrambling up the mountain. 
I told them if they let their load fall that nothing 
but their heads would pay the damage. It was hard 
work. The men panted loud and perspired freely. 
Occasionally they would deliberately set down their 
burden and take a rest. A fifth man proposed to 
haul me up by a rope. At first I declined, but after 
going a short distance I changed my mind. I tied 
one end of the rope around the middle of my um- 


CLIMBING MOUNT VESUVIUS 


285 


brella, to which I held; the man put the other end 
of the rope over his shoulder, and thus we proceeded. 
Thomas Cook & Son have a Funicular Railway, ex¬ 
tending from the lower station at the end of the car¬ 
riage drive from Naples, to within 200 yards of the 
crater. But the station was on the opposite side of 
the mountain from us, which would require a long 
ride to reach it; and then, as it made few trips dur¬ 
ing the summer season, we were not sure the opera¬ 
tor would be prepared to take us up when we reached 
it. Besides, we preferred going up another way. 

We soon passed the actor and Master John and 
reached the summit a quarter to five. With the as¬ 
sistance of the rope I had made the ascent with little 
fatigue. As I wished to get the worth of my money, 
I threw my whole weight on to the rope when I got 
the hauler into a particularly difficult place. He 
puffed like a steam-engine, but stuck nobly to his 
work. Half-way up he proposed to add the sixth 
man as a pusher, at my expense. But his proposi¬ 
tion did not meet with acceptance. We sat down 
on the edge of the old crater,far above the cloud line, 
and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and viewed 
the “landscape o’er.” It was an extensive and a 
lovely view. Not a cloud obstructed our vision. 
Lovely Naples seemed to lie at our feet, and over it 
the sun was hanging low in the west, ready to drop 
into the sea beyond. The great bay stretched away 
for miles in a southwestern direction, finally min¬ 
gling its waters with those of the Mediterranean Sea 
proper. The surrounding valleys were clothed with 


286 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


vineyards, orchards and corn-fields, and dotted with 
towns and villages; and the great lava streams, 
which had many times rolled down the mountain 
towards the sea since the destruction of Pompeii, 
were distinctly traced. It was a picture which a 
master-painter might have delighted to throw on 
canvas; but as we had in our party neither brush, 
canvas nor painter, we decided not to copy it. The 
unearthly noise at hand reminded us at this moment 
that there was something still more interesting to 
be seen. 

The summit of Vesuvius may be compared, in 
shape, to a huge plate with the raised rim, and a cone 
in the centre, extending a little above the outer edge, 
leaving a low circle between the rim and the central 
cone, resembling a wide, shallow moat. As we 
walked over this intervening ground we found it 
quite hot in places, and here and there were openings 
through which steam was issuing, in which you could 
soon cook an egg. Crossing this depressed crust, 
which was about a hundred yards wide, we stood on 
the very edge of the crater and looked right down 
into the awful abyss. The crater was circular, with 
vertical sides, reminding one of a great bucket, was 
probably a third of a mile in circumference and hun¬ 
dreds of feet deep. Over more than half of the south 
side there was a crust, in places red-hot, serving as 
a temporary bottom; but the remainder of the crust 
was broken away, leaving, on the north side, the 
great seathing, hissing, roaring lake of molten lava 
fully exposed to view. Every few moments the 


CLIMBING MOUNT VESUVIUS 


237 


mountain would give a belch, the flames would shoot 
up fifty feet high, and great balls of red-hot lava 
were thrown far above our heads, falling back into 
the crater with a thud. As there was no wind, the 
smoke did not interfere with our view, and the sul¬ 
phur smell gave us no trouble. We stood for one 
hour watching this angry lake of fire. Mrs. Trotter 
could not find words to express her winder, and de¬ 
clared she could look at it for weeks at a time. 

When we turned to make the descent I noticed that 
the shrewd Italians had carried the chair three hun¬ 
dred yards down the mountain and left it. When I 
demanded what they meant by such conduct, they 
said they thought the lady would like to walk a little 
way down the mountain. Well, she walked with 
the rest of us, ten feet at a stride. It was not a 
question of going; it was a question of stopping. It 
was like descending a pyramid of wheat. We only 
required twenty minutes to reach our horses. The 
actor was down first, and when he saw the four men 
ploughing through the ashes with the dust-covered 
lady elevated above their heads, he said he would 
give ten dollars for her photograph taken then. He 
thought it would be a stage draw. 

Now comes the powwow. These Italians are never 
satisfied with what you have agreed to pay them, and 
so I stood for twenty minutes in the midst of a half- 
dozen howling savages trying to pay them what I 
had promised. This over, we mounted our horses 
and rode off towards the nearest railway station. 
We had not gone far when we came to a fine bed of 


288 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


ashes; and hearing sharp exclamations from the 
guide behind me, I looked around in time to see 
Mrs. Trotter’s horse quietly kneeling down, and then 
stretching himself at fall length, gently laying off 
his burden on the upper side while he rolled over 
down the mountain, saddle and all. There was no 
stopping him till he had finished his roll, when he 
got up and seemed ready to complete the journey 
in an upright position. The little trotter, who kept 
a journal which he wrote up each evening in his own 
way, has given this description of the incident: “I 
set off at full speed, but soon stopped to let them 
come up with me. They had no sooner got up when 
I observed a commotion, and on looking back I saw 
mamma’s horse rolling on the ground and mamma 
standing up looking at him in open-mouthed aston¬ 
ishment. We all had a good laugh, and that was 
over. ” 

We arrived at the railway at half-past eight, and 
had to wait half an hour for the train. During this 
interval, our actor expressed a desire to have a glass 
of milk to cool his “parched tongue.” But as we 
had discharged our guides, he had some doubt about 
making himself understood. I gave him the Italian 
word for milk, and after practicing on it a few min¬ 
utes, he went out to visit the shops. He soon re¬ 
turned to the waiting-room with a sad countenance. 
He said he went into several shops and repeated the 
word for milk; and the shop-keepers simply looked 
at one another and smiled. I suggested that perhaps 
the people did not understand Italian. But he hinted 


CLIMBING MOUNT VESUVIUS 


239 


that probably my Italian was at fault. Whether he 
got the wrong word for milk, or there was no milk 
in the town, or the shop people took the actor for 
an idiot, remains a mystery to this day. Moral: 
Always speak English when you can speak nothing 
else correctly. 

We reached Naples at 10 p. m. tired and hungry, 
but well satisfied with our day’s work. 




LETTER XL. 


U S0 WE WENT TOWARD ROME.” 

This is what Luke says of Paul and his companions 
when they left Puteoli, a town on the bay near Na¬ 
ples, on their way to Rome. We followed Paul’s ex¬ 
ample. We were of Paul’s way of thinking when he 
said: “I must also see Rome.” At 2:55 p. m., on 
July 29, we took a fast train from Naples, and passed 
through some beautiful country on the wav to Rome. 
We saw much fine hemp which had been taken from 
rich land; also many fine fig, orange and lemon trees, 
and vineyards. But there is plenty of poor, hilly 
land in Southern Italy. We saw acres of corn not 
more than two or three feet high, topped at the small 
ear, which was hanging only a few inches from the 
ground. We arrived at Rome at 8:15 p. m , and 
stopped at the Grand Continental Hotel, near the 
railway station. We experienced a feeling of satisfac¬ 
tion when we realized we were actually in the “Eter¬ 
nal City.” 

We started early next morning in an open-topped 
carriage, and spent the whole day in sight-seeing. 
Under the direction of a splendid guide, L. Rey- 
naud, 8 Piazza di Spagna, Rome, we were able to see 
very much of Rome in one day and two nights 
240 


BO WE WENT TOWARD ROME 


241 


it 


n 


Among the inaDy interesting places we visited I may 
mention the following, which we saw in the order 
named: The bone-depository in the Capuchin Con¬ 
vent, St. Peter’s Church, the Vatican Library, the 
Tarpeian Rock, the Catacombs, the Scala Santa, or 
Holy Stairway, the Colosseum, the Palace of Nero, 
the Arch of Titus, the Forum,Paul’s Prison and the 
Fountain of Trevi. We crossed the Tiber a number 
of times, over which a beautiful and costly new 
bridge is being built near the old one on which we 
crossed. 

The bone-house was a ghastly curiosity. We 
descended a flight of steps into the basement room 
of the convent and stood in what resembled Ezekiel’s 
valley of dry bones. At first a sense of horror crept 
over us, which was soon changed into amusement, 
and finally into a feeling of disgust at such folly 
and superstition. Mark Twain’s description of this 
depository in “Innocents Abroad” is true to the let¬ 
ter: “Here was a spectacle for sensitive nerves! 
Evidently the old masters had been at work in this 
place. There were six divisions in the apartment, 
and each division was ornamented with a style of 
decoration peculiar to itself—and these decorations 
were in every instance formed of human bones! 
There were shapely arches, built wholly of thigh 
bones; there were startling pyramids, built wholly 
of grinning skulls; there were qaint architectural 
structures of various kinds, built of shin-bones and 
the bones of the arm; on the wall were elaborate 
frescoes, whose curving vines were made of knotted 


242 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


human vertebrae; whose delicate tendrils were made 
of sinews and tendons; whose flowers were formed of 
knee-caps and toe-nails. Every lasting portion of 
the human frame was represented in these intricate 
designs (they were by Michael Angelo, I think), and 
there was a careful finish about the work, and an 
attention to details that betrayed the artist’s love of 
his labors as well as his schooled ability. I asked 
the good-natured monk who accompanied us, who 
did this? And he said, ‘ We did it’—meaning him¬ 
self and his brethren upstairs. I could see that the 
old friar took a high pride in his curious show.” 
If the collection of the human bones is a necessary 
part of the final resurrection, there will evidently be 
a great stirring here when Gabriel sounds his 
trumpet. Some time before our visit a number of 
American ladies were cautiously paying their respects 
to these sacred bones, when the rats, which had made 
their nest under the wrappings of an undissected 
skeleton, began to move the ghastly object about 
at a lively rate, causing the terrified ladies to flee 
from the place, believing that the resurrection had 
already begun. We breathed more freely on the out¬ 
side of this building 

I shall attempt no description of St Peter’s Church. 
This has been attempted by many writers; but I have 
seen no description that does it justice. It is vast 
and imposing beyond comprehension. It is the larg¬ 
est church building in the world, and is built in the 
shape of a Latin cross. On the inside we saw work¬ 
men, away up toward the top of the walls, who looked 


80 WE WENT TOWARD ROME 


243 


u 


5) 


like dolls moving about. As you stand at the en¬ 
trance and look at men and women at the opposite 
end, they appear as children walking. All the pic¬ 
tures adorning this great building are inlaid, or mo¬ 
saic. On our left, near the entrance, was situated 
the Baptismal Chapel. Over the font is a life-size 
picture of Jesus and John the Baptist. Both are 
standing ankle-deep in the edge of a small stream, 
while the Baptist is pouring water out of a shell on 
the Saviour’s head. Such is the fancy of Roman 
Catholicism. Here at the small font we also saw a 
fat priest christen an infant, in the presence of about 
a dozen people. He first dipped his fingers in holy 
water and touched the infant’s face; then he put on 
a few drops of holy oil, after which he poured a small 
pitcherful of water on its head and dried it with 
a towel; and finally he lighted a candle and gave it 
to the father of the child to hold a moment. This 
completed the—what? Two or three Italian girls 
belonging to the party were laughing all through 
the ceremony, as though they considered it rare fun. 

On the same side, half-way down the church, we 
saw several detached confessional boxes, one for 
those speaking each of the principal languages. A 
perforated brass plate separates the priest from the 
confessor. The secrets are passed back and forth 
through the small holes. On the opposite side of the 
building is the most holy place, in which Christ is 
said to be preserved in the form of a loaf of bread; 
and before it were people on their knees worshiping. 
Near the great altar is a bronze statue of Peter, life 


244 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


size, the great toe and part of the other toes having 
been kissed away by the people. On special occa¬ 
sions the police stand by this statue and preserve 
order, while the long lines of worshipers file by and 
kiss what remains of the stump foot. The next ob¬ 
ject that attracted our attention was a beautiful 
marble statue of a woman, representing Truth. 
Originally it was nude; but one of the old popes, 
thinking it immodest, ordered it draped. The people 
did not like the pope’s action, and in referring to it, 
said they preferred the naked Truth. Since then it 
has gone by the name of “Naked Truth,” and this 
fact, it is claimed, has given rise to the expression 
in current conversation. We walked through the Vat¬ 
ican Library, which is about half a mile long, and 
examined many objects of interest, chief of which 
to me was the celebrated Vatican Manuscript of the 
Bible, in book form. The offer of $50,000 for this 
manuscript from the managers of the British Museum 
was refused. We did not see “His Holiness,” though 
we were close to him, and we did not offer to kiss 
his big toe, a la some American Protestants, to in¬ 
duce him to give us an audience. We had enough to 
do to look after our own toes. Pope Leo XIII. is 
now a very feeble old man, who considers himself 
a prisoner, shut up in the Vatican, whose influence 
among the people, even in Rome, is continually wan¬ 
ing. I was told by good authority that many of the 
Catholic churches in the city are almost deserted, 
and that most of the people who do attend them have 
no heart in it, but do so as a mere form. Our guide, a 


80 WE WENT TOWARD ROME 


245 


u 


>» 


very intelligent man, who is thoroughly acquainted 
with ancient and present Rome, first took me for a 
good Catholic, and so when he stood before the holy 
relics of the Church his tone was exceedingly rever¬ 
ent. Later, when he saw me smile at some of his 
stories, be thought I must be a poor Catholic; and 
finally he concluded that I was no Catholic at all. 
Then he opened his heart to us. He thought the 
“saints” were honored more than Christ, for he said 
there are 860 Catholic Churches in Rome, and not 
one of them is named for Christ. 

The Tarpeian Rock, down which criminals were 
thrown during the ancient Roman period, had a 
precipitous side nearly a hundred feet high. It is 
now considerably filled up at the bottom, and its 
top is occupied with houses. 

The Catacombs are outside the city; and to visit 
them we drove along the Appian Way, over which 
Paul came into the city a prisoner, and out on which 
he is said to have been beheaded. As we passed out 
under the great archway of the old city wall, the 
driver paused; and the guide, pointing to these mas¬ 
sive structures, said: “I will now show you the evi¬ 
dences of the beginning of Rome’s downfall.” We 
thought that these things looked more like evidences 
of Rome’s prosperity. But the guide explained that 
when Rome was the mistress of the world she needed 
only her soldiers to protect her. But when her armies 
were gradually being driven from the field, and her 
enemies were closing in on the city, it was then that 
she needed the walls of defense. The guide was 



246 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


right. But here are the Catacombs. We alight from 
the carriage, walk a short distance, pay an entrance 
fee to an old monk who gave each of us a lighted 
taper, and we all descended by a long flight of steps 
into the bowels of the earth. We walked miles along 
deep, dark, damp passages and through small cham¬ 
bers, excavated in the soft volcanic rock, whose walls 
are everywhere honeycombed with places, or loculi , 
for the repose of dead bodies. The galleries usually 
preserve the same level, are from two to three feet 
wide,interspersed with the small chambers and cross¬ 
ing one another every few steps, forming a vast 
labyrinth. It was like following the lines of a great 
checker-board. Almost every foot of the walls of 
these galleries and chambers has been occupied with 
a human body. The graves extended parallel with 
the length of the galleries, and were placed one above 
another from the bottom to the top. The bodies 
were carefully placed in the recesses,and the openings 
were filled with stone slabs or tiles and then com¬ 
pletely plastered over, making a smooth wall when 
all the loculi were filled. From many of the graves 
the plastering had been broken away, and the bones 
were exposed. The bones were so old that the mo¬ 
ment you touched them they crumbled to dust. 
Light and air are introduced by means of vertical 
shafts, sunk from the surface of the ground. These 
Catacombs constitute a most wonderful underground 
cemetery. The united length of the galleries has 
been estimated to be from 800 to 900 miles, and the 
number of graves at between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000. 


SO WE WENT TOWARD ROME 


247 


c< 


». 


It is now generally believed that they were the work 
of the early Christians, and that they were intended 
as the place of interment of their dead. What a 
mighty army of Christian soldiers 1 No wonder that 
heathen Rome, in fulfillment of prophecy, went down 
under its influence. 

The Catacombs were also used in time of persecu¬ 
tion as a place of refuge, and some of the chambers 
were converted into chapels for worship. These facts 
are proclaimed by the many Christian symbols 
which may still be seen on the walls, the tables for 
the observance of the Lord’s Supper and baptisteries 
for the immersion of the new converts. They would 
serve as an admirable hiding place. When you once 
get well into this labyrinth you feel that you would 
be utterly helpless to find your way to the outside 
world without a guide. Our guide told us that he 
had to drill a great deal before he would venture to 
take parties into them A French artist once had 
great difficulty in finding his way out of the Cata¬ 
combs. An atheist was lost for a number of days in 
them, and he was so impressed during the time that 
he became a convert to Christianity. It is said that 
an American gentleman, who boasted much of the 
progress of his country, visited the Catacombs, some 
years ago, in company with a number of Europeans; 
and becoming intoxicated, his companions laid him 
in a passage, retired and listened to see what he 
would say when he realized his surroundings. After 
a while he regained a measure of his usual clearness 
of mind, looked around on the closed graves and ex- 



248 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


claimed: “Hello, the resurrection morn,and Ameri¬ 
ca up first, as usual I” 

The Holy Stairway has twenty-eight marble steps, 
which are now covered with wood to prevent their 
further abrasion It is claimed that this is the stair¬ 
way which Jesus ascended when he was brought be¬ 
fore Pilate, and on three of them are pointed out 
drops of the Saviour’s blood. We saw in Jerusalem 
the place from which, according to tradition, this 
stairway was taken. The good Catholic who climbs 
these steps on his knees and kisses the three drops 
of blood is very near the portals of heaven! It was 
up these steps that Luther was crawling when he was 
specially impressed with the central thought of the 
Protestant Reformation. We watched a lady go from 
the bottom to the top. It was a laborious process. 
We preferred to go another way. There is a stair¬ 
way on the right and another on the left of the holy 
one. We ascended one of these, with the goats. 

What shall I say of the Colosseum? We were 
much impressed with this vast heathen ruin. Here 
again the evidences of Rome’s grandeur and Rome’s 
decay meet. Most of its stately columns and mas¬ 
sive walls are still standing to tell their wonderful 
story. To this theatre all Rome resorted to witness 
the bloody conflicts. It is about 612 feet long, 515 
feet wide, and 180 feet high. It had seats for 87,- 
000 people, and standing room for 15,000 more. We 
stood in the arena where gladiatorial combats took 
place, and in which many thousands of Christians 
suffered martyrdom. We saw the dens in which the 
hungry wild beasts were kept, and from which they 


SO WE WENT TOWARD ROME 


249 


u 


n 


sprang forth, as the strong doors swung open, to de¬ 
vour their human prey. Yonder is the seat which the 
Emperor occupied,surrounded by the seats of senators 
and other distinguished persons, and over there is the 
fountain at which the participants in the cruel sports 
washed and dressed themselves. When a few mo¬ 
ments later we stood in Paul’s deep, chilly prison, 
in which he wrote, U I was delivered out of the mouth 
of the lion,” we had no doubt that he fully under¬ 
stood the meaning of contending with wild beasts. 
We could also realize his need when he wrote to Tim¬ 
othy in the same epistle, saying: “The cloak that 
I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring 
with thee.” 

Our carriage stopped under the marble Arch of 
Titus, which spans the street,and which Titus erected 
to commemorate his conquest of Jerusalem in A. D. 
TO. Above our heads, on our left, were sculptured 
representations of the golden table of show bread 
and the golden candlestick, being carried by Jews. 
Thus this well-preserved arch has stood for more 
than eighteen hundred years as an unmistakable 
monument of the truthfulness of the Holy Scriptures. 

We looked for the seven hills of ancient Rome; 
but they were not very conspicuous. They were only 
small hills which have partly disappeared. Indeed, 
Rome appears to be built on a level area, and it is 
surrounded by some swampy country. It possesses 
many nice streets, tall business houses and hand¬ 
some residences. We saw numerous beer-shops, 
bare-footed priests and gorgeously uniformed soldiers. 
But notwithstanding all its defects, Rome presents 
many attractions and a pleasing appearance 





LETTER XLI. 


FROM ROME TO PARIS. 

We left Rome on Tuesday morning, July 31, at 
8:10. Our train skirted the Mediterranean Sea, 
sometimes running quite close to it, and the country 
through which we passed was flat and, in places, 
swampy. At several farm-houses along the line, the 
people were engaged in threshing their wheat. At 
3 p. m. we arrived at Pisa, and we took rooms at the 
Royal Victoria Hotel. 

Our object in stopping at Pisa was to see its four 
famous monuments, the Leaning Tower, the Cathe¬ 
dral, the Baptistery and the Campo Santo, or Holy 
Ground. We climbed to the top of the Tower by an 
inner, spiral stairway, and had a very extensive 
view. The city is not large, is partly surrounded 
by an old wall and stands on the banks of the Arno, 
which winds its way through a fertile plain. This 
marble-cased, cylindrical tower is about 175 feet 
high, 50 feet in diameter, and overhangs its base 
more than 13 feet. The summit is secured with 
double rails, and a few feet lower is a belfry, in 
which are hanging seven bells. When you stand on 
top of this tower, the people and horses on the streets 
look very small, and when you look over the lower 

250 


FROM ROME TO PARIS 


251 


edge of it you possess a sense of fear, as though the 
thing might fall with you. 

We did not feel much interest in the fine Cathe¬ 
dral, and so we spent most of our time in the Bap¬ 
tistery, which stands a short distance in the rear of 
the Cathedral. This is a circular, marble building, 
about 100 feet in diameter, and is covered with a 
cone-surmounted dome 190 feet high, crowned 
with a statue of St. Raniero. In the interior there 
is a beautiful pool for the immersion of adults and 
infants, the principal part of which is 9 feet square 
and 3£ feet deep. The building was commenced in A. 
D. 1153. We tested its remarkable echo. 

The little enclosed cemetery near the Cathedral, 
in which the distinguished men of Pisa are buried, 
was made holy ground by the fifty-three ship loads of 
dirt brought from Jerusalem and deposited here. We 
did not become very enthusiastic over such holiness. 

We took the night train from Pisa, and we thought 
we had secured a compartment to ourselves. But 
an Italian lady and gentleman managed to get in 
with us and prevented our sleeping most of the night 
by their constant talking We were better pleased 
with Northern Italy than we were with Southern 
Italy. The corn, we noticed, was much larger, and 
the oranges, lemons, figs and grapes had mostly given 
place to apples, peaches, apricots and pears. The 
country had a green, fresh appearance. We saw sev¬ 
eral women assisting the men in saving hay. They 
seemed to have “equal rights” with tin* men We 
expected to take breakfast at Twin, where we 





252 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


changed cars. But as our train was behind time in 
reaching that city, wo had only time to pass hurriedly 
from one train to the other. We could get nothing 
to eat till the afternoon, except a loaf of bread and 
some peaches which we purchased from a woman 
through the car window, and these we washed down 
with water We thought of Henry Stanley’s “Star¬ 
vation Camp,” in Africa However, we partially 
made up for the loss of our breakfast in feasting our 
eyes on the scenery. We were now gradually as¬ 
cending the famous Alps, along a winding ravine, 
down which a clear stream of water was running, 
and on both sides of us were the towering mountain 
peaks, partly covered with forests and streaked with 
snow. We passed through numerous short tunnels, 
and finally through Mont Cenis tunnel, 7^ miles long, 
and which required 40 minutes to pass through it. 
We entered the tunnel from Italy, and came out of 
it at Modane, in France. Here we passed through 
the Custom House, and changed trains for Paris. 
We descended the Alps with great rapidity, and next 
morning at 5:30 the conductor threw open the door 
of our compartment and disturbed our slumbers 
by shouting, Parie! Parie! We called a cab and 
drove to the St. Petersburg Hotel, right in the heart 
of the city, where English was spoken, and where 
we met several Americans. This time we had our 
breakfast. 

After getting settled in our rooms, we hired a car¬ 
riage,driver and an English-speaking guide,and spent 
the day in seeing as much of Paris as we could. 


FROM ROME TO PARIS 


253 


Thomas Cook’s agents were conducting excursions 
over the city, but we do not like sight-seeing with 
a large company of people. We drove through many 
of the great thoroughfares, visited several of the 
principal objects of interest and pronounced Paris 
the most beautiful city we had seen. We admired 
the River Seine, which runs through the city. After 
seeing St Peter’s at Rome, we were not particularly 
interested in seeing Notre Dame. Yet, it is a splendid 
building, and has an interesting history. It is seated 
with rough cane-bottom chairs. Its treasury in¬ 
cludes fragments of Christ’s cross, the crown of 
thorns, a nail from the cross, etc. Again our faith 
in holy relics was severely tried. 

The Arch of Triumph is the finest triumphal arch 
in existence. It stands on an eminence and can be 
seen from nearly all parts of the city It is 160 feet 
high, 146 feet broad, 72 feet deep and cost $2,000,- 
000. From its top you have a very fine view of the 
city. It is the centre whence radiate twelve fine ave¬ 
nues, which slope upward to the arch, forming what 
is called the “Star ” The streets of Paris are broad, 
well shaded and kept in excellent condition. From 
the summit of the arch,Paris appears to be built on 
a circular plain, with a slightly raised edge. Around 
on this rim are the defenses of the city. The Eiffel 
Tower was in plain view, lifting its graceful head 
085 feet toward the clouds; but after standing on 
the Arc de Triomphe , we had no desire to ascend the 
Eilfel Tower. 

At night, as we were taking a walk along the 




254 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


Champs Elysees, the fashiouable promenade of Paris, 
we saw crowds of people turning to the left into a 
park. We thought we would follow and see what 
caused the attraction. We soon found ourselves 
inside a large covered area with open sides Admis¬ 
sion was free, and the place was brilliantly lighted, 
and filled with thousands of the fashionable ladies 
and gentlemen of the city. At one end was a large 
platform, in front of which was a band playing. We 
took our seats, and quietly awaited whatever was to 
come. We soon learned that we were expected to 
take some refreshments, and to pay for them accord¬ 
ing to the seat we occupied. We chose two glasses of 
lemonade, which cost us six francs! Soon the fun 
commenced. A middle-aged woman came on to the 
platform and sang very nicely. Then a girl, who 
sang and hopped about at a lively rate. Then a 
young lady appeared in full evening costume, which 
got fuller the longer she remained on the platform. 
She sang, she danced, she—well, perhaps the less 
said about it the better. We put our hands over our 
faces and retired, having learned a lesson in Parisian 
manners and morals. 


LETTER XLII. 


FROM PARIS TO LONDON. 

On Friday morning, August 3, at 8:10, we took the 
train at Paris for Calais. We much enjoyed our 
ride through France. An hour from Paris brought 
us into the midst of the farming country, which 
presented a pleasing prospect. It is thickly popu¬ 
lated, the land is divided into small sections and is 
under a high state of cultivation The houses are 
mostly small, tile-covered and surrounded by poplar 
and other ornamental trees, so numerous, in places, 
as to give the appearance of a timbered country. 
Extensive vegetable and flower gardens were also nu¬ 
merous. We saw many fine apple and peach orchards. 
There were green pastures, on which cattle and 
horses were grazing. The people were busy harvest¬ 
ing their wheat and oats, and here, as in Italy, the 
women were assisting in the fields. In places men 
were plowing the ground and rolling it with large 
rollers. The French peasants evidently have reason 
to be a prosperous and contented people. The air 
was cool enough for me to feel quite comfortable in 
my overcoat. 

We arrived at Calais at 3 p. m., the train going 
right to the pier. We were soon transferred to our 


256 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


boat, thus taking our leave of French soil. One 
hour’s smooth sailing across the English Channel 
brought us to Dover, England. Here a fast train 
for London awaited us. That portion of England 
through which we passed was beautiful The coun¬ 
try looked more like a succession of well-kept gar¬ 
dens, divided by low hedge fences, than like farms. 
Again we were attracted by the tile-covered farm 
houses, the people harvesting and threshing their 
wheat, and mowing their meadows. The English 
women would not be behind the French wives and 
maidens, for some of them were also assisting in hay¬ 
making. After all, it is possible that such an active, 
outdoor life is more healthful to body and more 
wholesome to mind and morals than political speech¬ 
making In the meadows of Italy, France, England 
and America there is an abundance of room for the 
women, who are thus inclined, to exercise “equal 
rights.” It is a far more laudable business than be¬ 
ing engaged in writing a so-called “Woman’s Bible. ” 
Our train moved into the Cannon Street station, 
London, at 5:30 p. m., and we stopped over night at 
the Cannon Street Hotel. 

No, thank you, I do not propose to write up Lon¬ 
don. You must be satisfied with a bit of our personal 
experience in the “world’s metropolis.” Well, in 
the first place, we were not pleased with the London 
hotels. They are nearly all conducted on the tariff 
system, charging separately for each principal item 
that goes to make up the accommodation and meals. 
When I settled our bill next morning I was charged 


FROM PARIS TO LONDON 


257 


four shillings and sixpence for service in our rooms. 
The only service we had here received consisted in 
Lady Bridget sticking her head in at the door the 
evening before and asking if we needed anything. 
When I returned to our rooms, I began to turn the 
beds upside down and misplace things generally. 
Mrs. Trotter looked on in astonishment, and asked 
me if I had gone mad. I explained that I was not 
mad, but as I had just paid four shillings and six¬ 
pence for room-service I thought it right that the serv¬ 
ant should give us the worth of the money. At one 
o’clock, when we left the hotel, Lady Bridget had 
not made her appearance. When we took our seats 
at the breakfast table, a stately figure, dressed in 
black clothes, emerged from a side room and moved 
slowly towards us, as he put the finishing touches 
on his toilet. We hardly knew whether it was Lord 
Creeper approaching us to introduce himself, or a 
servant dispatched to wait on us at the table. It 
proved to be the latter. As we expected to spend 
several days in London, we removed to what was ad¬ 
vertised as a first-class boarding-house, adjoining the 
British Museum. We selected this place because it 
afforded us a rare opportunity of studying the un¬ 
paralleled collection of interesting objects in the 
museum. Here we found several American boarders. 
We had an abundance of room and plenty of style; 
but the food was utterly inadequate to satisfy the 
appetite of a hungry American. It was easy to read 
their disappointment in the faces of the boarders. 
They finished each meal hungry. The lady of the 



258 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


house, who sat at the head of the table, tried to 
keep us cheerful by her pleasant conversation. But 
we all with one accord got sadder and sadder, as the 
days passed. The English hang up their fowls to 
“mellow” before they cook them. They do not care 
for cheese till it becomes strong enough to walk 
alone; then they call it “fine old cheese.” The few 
crumbs of cheese we got at our boarding house had 
a way of announcing their approach to the table. 
At noon on the fifth day we reached the climax. I 
arose from the table and went out. I met near the 
house a lady boarder from New York City. She said 
in solemn tones: “Mr. Floyd, I have been thinking 
of asking you what you think of our boarding¬ 
house.” I told her she could judge my opinion from 
the fact that I was on my way to find another board¬ 
ing-house. She said: “I believe I will follow your 
example.” One by one, the boarders quietly took 
their departure; while others filled their places and 
had the same experiences. 

Sunday proved a busy day with us. At 11 a. m. 
I preached, by invitation, in the West London Tab¬ 
ernacle. At B p. m. we heard Canon Wilberforce 
preach in the Westminster Abbey. Wilberforce is 
very popular in London, and hence there was not 
standing room in the great building for the people 
who crowded to hear him. The preacher read his 
sermon; but we were too far from him to follow its 
connection. It seemed to me that the Abbey was 
better adapted to cover the remains of some of Eng¬ 
land’s famous men and women than to serve as a 


FROM PARIS TO LONDON 


259 


house of worship. After the service we got one of 
the attendants to point out some of the noted graves. 
We paused longest over the slabs that marked the 
resting place of Sir Isaac Newton and Dr. David Liv¬ 
ingstone. In the evening, at 0:30, we attended the 
Metropolitan Tabernacle to hear Thomas Spurgeon, 
whom I knew in New Zealand, preach. The Taber¬ 
nacle was comfortably filled, and Mr. Spurgeon 
preached a plain, practical sermon. This church 
uses neither organ nor choir; but the singing was 
congregational and hearty, the leader standing on 
the platform. The Lord’s Supper was observed at 
the close of the service. The church spreads the 
Lord’s Table on every Sunday evening. 

We spent most of Monday in the Zoological Gar¬ 
dens, which contain 3,000 animals. Indeed, during 
our week’s stay in London we were busy seeing what 
we could of the great city. We spent much time in 
the British Museum, and were most interested in the 
Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian Rooms. I can 
not even begin to tell my readers in these letters of 
what we saw and learned in this immense and valua¬ 
ble collection. Only one thing I will mention. In 
the “Manuscript Department” I copied the follow¬ 
ing: “Case G. A volume of the celebrated ‘Codex 
Alexandrinus, ’ containing the Greek text of the Holy 
Scriptures written in uncial letters on very thin vel¬ 
lum, probably in the middle of the fifth century. 
Presented to King Charles I. by Cyril, Patriarch 
of Constantinople.” The manuscript is in book form, 
and the size of the page is about 11 by 14 inches, 



260 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


We enjoyed several rides through the principal thor¬ 
oughfares of London. The best way to see London 
is on top of a bus. Most of the drivers are well 
acquainted with the city, and are fond of telling you 
what they know. You can go a long way for a penny, 
and for a few pennies you can ride on a bus all day. 
Sometimes your bus will get into a perfect jam of 
traffic, at the point where a number of streets con¬ 
verge, and you will imagine how you are going to 
get out. But the driver, with the aid of the police, 
always makes a way for your escape without accident. 

We went to the East End, and down into the no¬ 
torious Whitechapel district. We wanted to see if 
General Booth’s picture of ‘‘Darkest England” is a 
correct one. We did not meet “Jack the Ripper,” 
but we saw plenty of people there clothed and in 
their right mind. We also saw evidences of extreme 
poverty and vice. But we believe the picture has 
been somewhat overdrawn. We also visited the 
Houses of Parliament, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, 
St. Paul’s Cathedral, office of the Christian Common¬ 
wealth, Hyde Park, “Cleopatra’s Needle,” on the 
Thames embankment,and had a number of boat-rides 
on the river Thames. 

London is not a pretty city. Its streets and walks 
are narrow, and seldom dry. The show-windows of 
its business houses do not always appear to the best 
advantage, and to one who has been accustomed to a 
flood of Australian sunshine, the city presents a 
gloomy appearance. 


LETTER XLIII. 


FROM LONDON HOME. 

My around-the-world story is almost told. I must 
now hasten to the finish. 

On Friday, August 10, at 8:10 p. m., we left the 
Waterloo Station, London, for Southampton. We 
were delighted with the fine country through which 
our train passed. The green grass, the neat hedges, 
the rich vegetable gardens and the groves of tall pine 
trees, interspersed with wheat fields and patches of 
native bush, were very inviting to the eye. Several 
machines were busy cutting and threshing the wheat 
on the small fields. We arrived at Southampton at 
5:80 p. m , where we remained till the following 
afternoon. On Saturday morning a friend from 
London, who was spending a holiday on the coast 
near Southampton, called for us in a buggy, and took 
us a delightful drive into the country. Southampton 
is a chilly place, and we were glad when the time 
came to get away from it. 

We took passage for New York on the S. S. Ber¬ 
lin , of the American Line. At 6 p. m we left the 
wharf, and we sailed out over the fine sheet of water 
comprising the harbor, called the Southampton 
Water, bordered with green grass, ornamental trees 
261 



262 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


and handsome residences. On our left, we passed the 
Isle of Wight, on which could be seen the towns of 
Cowes, and Osborne House, the residence of the 
queen. 

We had on board 550 passengers, 800 of whom 
were in the steerage; and 100 more were better adapt¬ 
ed to the steerage than the saloon, as the sequel will 
show. The passage over the Atlantic was smooth, 
and, with two exceptions, it was uneventful. On 
Sunday before our arrival at New York the Germans 
in the saloon, joined by some English and American 
passengers, held an orgy that began at noon on the 
Lord’s Day and continued till after midnight. Under 
the influence of the bad beer and whisky, supplied 
by the bar, these devotees of Bacchus came to the 
conclusion that the whole ship belonged to them. 
The filthy language and general uproar became so 
unbearable that we had to appeal to the stewards 
and stewardess, then to the chief steward, and finally 
to the captain, before we could get a little quiet and 
rest. This is a sample of the material that the ships 
are daily dumping on to the American continent. 
Our immigration and assimilation laws, if we have 
any worth the name, are sadly in need of serious 
attention by Uncle Sam. 

On Monday morning at 7 we narrowly escaped a 
very serious accident. As I went on deck the ship was 
suddenly thrown into commotion by coming in col¬ 
lision with a large four-mast sailing vessel. The fog 
was very heavy, and the ships did not see each other 
till their bows were nearly touching. The sailing 


FROM LONDON HOME 


268 


vessel did not strike us square, but glanced off and 
scraped heavily the side of our steamer, doing us 
no harm. The Berlin backed up and spoke the ship; 
and learning that she was only slightly damaged and 
needed no assistance, our officers took her name and 
destination and moved on. At the time of the col¬ 
lision Mrs. Trotter was in her room, and the shock, 
accompanied by the sudden closing of the port-hole by 
the ship, startled her. The sons of Belial, who had 
given us so much trouble during the night and who 
were sober enough to get on deck, now began to put 
on serious airs We felt as if the Jonahs ought to 
be thrown overboard, and cast forth on their native 
shores, to remain till they repent and learn decent 
manners. 

At noon we passed into the New York Harbor, 
with the graceful Statue of Liberty on our left, and 
our good ship was soon made fast to the wharf.— 
Native land! 

“Thy name I love; 

I love thy rocks and rills, 

Thy woods and templed hills; 

My heart with rapture thrills, 

Like that above.” 

We spent two nights and most of two days in New 
York City. We walked over the wonderful Brooklyn 
Bridge and visited Brooklyn,the “City of Churches,” 
returning over the bridge by train We were de¬ 
lighted with the beautiful and extensive Central 
Park, and were pleased to see the Egyptian Obelisk 
standing on a prominent knoll in the park. On 
Wednesday morning we crossed the Hudson River 
on the ferry-boat to Jersey City, where we took the 



264 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


fast express train at 8:30 for Lexington, Kentucky, 
by way of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington 
City. We arrived at Washington at 1:42 p. m., and 
stopped off to visit the Capitol, the Washington 
Monument and the White House. We walked through 
the House of Representatives, the Senate Chamber 
and the other principal rooms and halls of the Cap¬ 
itol. The Washington Monument stands on an emi¬ 
nence, overlooking the city. It is 555 feet high, is 
square and tapers gradually to the top. There is a 
spiral stairway on the inside, by which you can as¬ 
cend to the top. An elevator operated by the Gov¬ 
ernment also goes to the summit every half-hour. 
No charge is made for its use. Of course we took 
the elevator. The President was not at home, but 
we saw him arrive at the Union Depot on a train 
from New York, shortly before eleven at night. After 
driving over the city Mrs.Trotter pronounced Wash¬ 
ington next to Paris in beauty. In the evening we 
spent considerable time in a restaurant, eating ice¬ 
cream. The colored waiter went back and forth re¬ 
plenishing our plates till his white teeth began to 
shine as an unmistakable token of his amusement. 

At 11:10 p.m. we took the train over the Chesapeake 
and Ohio route, and the next morning we looked out 
on the rugged, heavily wooded mountains and hills 
on both sides of us. Descending from the mountain 
ranges, we soon entered the Blue-grass region of Ken¬ 
tucky, and at 6 p. m., Thursday, August 23, 1894, 
we arrived at Lexington, our starting point, thus 
completing Our Tour Around the World. At home! 
Here we will let the curtain fall. 


LETTER XLIV. 


CONCLUSION. 

I have been frequently asked two important 
questions, which I will here briefly answer. 1. “Did 
your observations in Palestine serve to confirm your 
faith in the accuracy of the Scriptures?” 2. “What 
is the best time of the year for paying a visit to the 
Holy Land and the Continent?” 

To the first question I have no hesitation in re¬ 
plying with emphasis, Yes. Ernest Renan, the ablest 
and most polished writer belonging to the French 
School of Skeptics, in his “Life of Jesus,” says: 

“The scientific commission for the exploration of 
ancient Phenicia, of which I was the director in 1800 
and 1861, led me to reside on the frontiers of Galilee, 
and to traverse it frequently. I have travelled through 
the evangelical province in every direction; I have 
visited Jerusalem, Hebron and Samaria; scarcely 
any locality important in the history of Jesus has es¬ 
caped me. All this history which, at a distance, 
seemed floating in the clouds of an unreal world, 
thus assumed a body, a solidity which astonished 
me. The striking accord of the texts and the places, 
the wonderful harmony of the evangelical ideal with 
the landscape which served as its setting, were to 
265 




266 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


me a revelation. I had before my eyes a fifth gospel, 
torn but still legible, and thenceforth, through the 
narratives of Matthew and Mark, instead of an ab¬ 
stract being, which one would say had never existed, 
I saw a wonderful human form Jive and move.” 

This is a frank confession which must be made by 
every unbiased and intelligent person who sees Pal¬ 
estine as Renan saw it. This “striking accord of 
the texts and the places, the wonderful harmony of 
the evangelical ideal with the landscape which served 
as its setting,” were not only a revelation to Renan, 
but they constituted the principal reasons that forced 
him to the conclusion which he expresses in these 
words: “Upon the whole,I accept the four canonical 
gospels as authentic. All, in my judgment, date 
back to the first century, and they are substantially 
by the authors to whom they are attributed; but in 
historic value, they are very unequal.” So far as my 
observations in the Hply Land have gone,my experi¬ 
ence respecting the “wonderful harmony” between 
the texts of the New Testament and the places and 
things described was substantially in accord with the 
experience of Renan. Indeed, the correspondence 
between the land and the Book seems to be complete. 
The “fifth gospel” is a living witness to and a strik¬ 
ing confirmation of the historical accuracy of the 
other four. All the references of these gospel writers 
to the manners and customs of the people, the cities, 
towns, mountains, hills, valleys, plains, lakes, 
streams, relative levels, animals, plants, etc., of the 
country which they describe are found absolutely 


CONCLUSION 


267 


correct in every detail. This fact becomes the more 
remarkable when it is remembered that it cannot be 
truthfully asserted for any book except the Bible. 
Numerous books have been written on Palestine by 
able authors. Able guide-books have been prepared on 
the Holy Land by learned gentlemen who have spent 
years exploring the country with the assistance of 
modern science,so as to give to the traveller the most 
reliable information possible respecting the places 
and things described. But all these books contain 
more or less mistakes, which may be easily pointed 
out. But the Gospel writers have made no mistakes. 
The New Testament, in some respects, is therefore 
the best guide-book to Palestine. Its writers not 
only lived and moved among the scenes about which 
they have so accurately written, but they must have 
been also guided in a way that no writer at the pres¬ 
ent time is guided. It seems to me that these facts 
alone are sufficient to make out a clear case in favor 
of the divine origin of Christianity. For it is simply 
incredible that these writers who lived and moved 
among the scenes about which they were writing 
would record so faithfully the ordinary facts of gos¬ 
pel history, and then blunder in recording the mira¬ 
cles of Jesus, including His resurrection from the 
dead. The acceptance of the divine origin of Chris¬ 
tianity is the only reasonable way we see out of the 
difficulty. I have no fears for the ultimate triumph 
of the Bible over all forms of opposition. Destruc¬ 
tive criticism has spent its force, and has already 
received its death-blow,as Professor Sayce and other 




268 


OUR TOUR AROUND THE WORLD 


archaeologists and Biblical scholars have ably shown, 
from the pick and the spade which have brought to 
light and are continuing to do so much monumental 
evidence confirmatory of the facts of the Bible. In 
the end the Bible will be found to be true, though 
every man should be proved a liar. 

In answering the second question I may say that 
my own experience is decidedly in favor of visiting 
Egypt, Palestine and the Continent during the months 
of July, August and September, when the great pro¬ 
cession of tourists has ceased to pour into and out of 
them. As a rule, you will not find the weather too 
hot, you will receive the undivided attention of 
guides and servants,the best accommodation afforded 
by the hotels, boats and railways, and in many cases 
for less than half the price you would have to pay 
during the tourist season. It is not always pleasant 
to be hustled about all day in a crush of selfish sight¬ 
seers, and then be stowed away at night in the 
hall way or baggage room, while the women and 
children occupy all the beds in the hotels and board¬ 
ing-houses. Then, too, during the summer months 
you will have the advantage of a cloudless sky, the 
absence of chilly weather and the benefit of refresh¬ 
ing sleep at night. But respecting this matter, I may 
finally say, let every man be fully persuaded in his 
own mind. 







































4 








































































































































■ 










































































































































































































































































